


Space Rebels Without A Clue

by Lenni51074



Series: To The Moon And Back [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BFF Lance McLain, But Keith is bad at flirting, But not too slow because who has time for that?, Emo space baby, Enemies to Friends, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Hunk is a hopeless romantic, I say Vol, It's Lance who's the flirt, It's meeeeee Keeeeeeeeith, Keith is clueless, Keith makes me soft, Lance most definitely does not ship it, Mostly Canon Compliant, Not another soulmate AU, Reader isn't much better tbh, Sarcasm is how you both hug, Shiro is number one space dad, Slow Burn, Some angst because Voltron that's why, The Red Lion ships it, We got life-bonds instead, You say Tron, hunk ships it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 49,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23014423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenni51074/pseuds/Lenni51074
Summary: You are the daughter of two of the Galaxy Garrison’s most decorated leaders, fighting to be recognised and respected for your skills rather than your lineage. Your adversary is a hot-headed rebel loner with a penchant for ignoring orders and doing things his own way. The two of you also happen to bring out both the best and the worst in one another.What happens when the two of you discover that you are life-bonded? Pure, unadulterated chaos, that's what.Throw in an unexpected trip to the far reaches of the galaxy with some fellow cadets, mind-blowing intergalactic technology, a world-weary Space Dad, and a temperamental robotic space lion that ‘accidentally’ traps the two of you together, and life as you know it just got a whole lot weirder.But eventually, you and Keith realise that you would follow each other to the moon and back. Well, you’re life-bonded, so you don’t really have a choice, do you?
Relationships: Keith (Voltron)/Reader, Lance (Voltron)/Reader, Shiro (Voltron)/Reader
Series: To The Moon And Back [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1654015
Comments: 36
Kudos: 152





	1. Let's Start At The Very Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> I DO NOT OWN VOLTRON OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS MENTIONED IN THE SERIES
> 
> This is basically a retelling of the Netflix Voltron series, with the reader as an additional character. It's going to follow the storyline of the show pretty closely, with a few minor tweaks here and there and some original additions. As it's focused mostly on the relationship between Keith and the reader, some of the storylines involving the other Paladins are going to be glossed over unless they are of critical importance to the overall narrative.
> 
> In this fic, there is no such thing as the good old-fashioned common or garden variety soulmate we all know and love. Rather, there is only one type of pre-determined permanent relationship bond - the almost non-existent life-bonds which occur in less than 5% of the population. 
> 
> Life-bonds are not determined by the words on your skin, like a soulmate would be. Instead, life-bonds are confirmed the first time both partners have skin-to-skin contact and are always exclusively monogamous and romantic. In other words, you cannot fall in love with another person if you are life-bonded to someone else, even if you don’t yet know that you are life-bonded (no matter how much you might wish otherwise).
> 
> When life-bonded couples touch for the first time, they glow briefly where they touch – this is usually a handshake, but occasionally it’s a hug or a kiss. Life-bonds often tend to happen to two people who at first glance seem to be polar opposites. They are two halves of a whole, with each person having something that the other needs. This generally makes for more explosive – and therefore passionate – relationships.
> 
> Life-bonds mean that partners can feel each other’s emotions, and can communicate telepathically. It also means when one is in physical pain, the other can sense it. If separated by a significant distance for extended periods of time, the stretch between your life-bond causes physical discomfort. Life-bonds can only be broken by the death of one or both partners.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and a certain raven-haired emo teen are classmates at the Galaxy Garrison. Both of you are hot-tempered, don’t really fit in, and are brilliant at what you do. It should be a match made in heaven, but it seems more like being in hell when you constantly have to work with someone that you just can’t stand.
> 
> However, one day the two of you team up to rescue your idol, and things just end up going downhill from there…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first four chapters of this fic relate to Series 1 Episode 1: “The Rise of Voltron.”

You weren’t entirely surprised to discover, at the age of fourteen, that it was Lance McLain who became your best friend at the Galaxy Garrison. He laughably attempted to flirt with you upon being introduced during the first week of recruit training.

“So, are you from space? Because baby, you’re out of this world.” He wiggled his eyebrows at you, obviously expecting you to swoon with delight at his boyish charm, and evidently hoping that you would prove to be the love of his life.

Snorting derisively, you replied, “If you fly as well as you flirt, you’ll be out of here by the end of the week.”

His pout quickly changed into a lopsided grin as you grinned at him. It was the start of a beautiful friendship. One based partly on a shared love of teasing one another mercilessly, partly on a genuine enjoyment of each other’s company, but mostly on a mutual loathing of Keith Kogane.

The best cadet pilot in the class was also a huge pain in the butt for both of you. For Lance, it was because of his self-perceived rivalry with the raven-haired boy for the title of number one pilot in training. The rivalry was completely one-sided, as Keith was training to be a fighter pilot, whereas Lance was recruited as a trainee cargo pilot, so their paths rarely crossed. And although you would never tell him to his face, for fear of hurting his feelings, Lance wasn’t in Keith’s league when it came to flying. He didn’t even come close.

Lance’s dislike of Keith was also partly influenced by his perception of himself as the ‘pretty boy’ of the Galaxy Garrison, and therefore he was offended that practically every single female cadet – with the notable exception of yourself – had, at one time or another, swooned incessantly over the broody, sullen loner instead.

For you, it was the fact that Keith pushed every single one of your buttons. His laissez-faire attitude towards training, his total lack of discipline, the way he went out of his way to deliberately antagonise class favourite James Griffin, and his complete disregard for anyone in a position of authority – apart from Takashi “Shiro” Shirogane - set your teeth on edge.

It probably didn’t help that you were considered the darling of the Galaxy Garrison simply by virtue of the fact that your parents were two of the most decorated members of the Fleet, whereas Keith was constantly teased for being a lone-wolf orphan.

To make matters worse, despite your mutual animosity, Keith seemed to be the only trainee pilot that you could work with successfully; and you were the only trainee navigator that he actually trusted enough to listen to during flight simulations. As such, you were often paired together for training exercises by Commander Iverson, which aggravated the two of you to such an extent that everyone was surprised that your incessant verbal sparring hadn’t yet resulted in a physical altercation. The wayward teen was usually quick to let his fists do the talking, and your fiery temper also often resulted in you hitting first and asking questions later. Yet for some reason that no-one could fathom, neither of you had ever laid a finger on the other.

Adding further insult to injury, Keith appeared to be irrationally jealous of both your close friendship with Lance and your rumoured romantic attachment to Griffin; similarly, you detested every female cadet that batted their eyelashes at him. You couldn’t understand why you saw red whenever another girl paid any sort of attention to him – even though he appeared completely oblivious to their blatant attempts at flirtation – and he couldn’t explain just why it bothered him so much that you were so fond of both the cheeky Cuban and the teacher’s pet.

Further confusing everybody was the fact that even though you and Keith obviously couldn’t stand each other, you were quick to defend one another from the cruelty of everyone else. Your keen sense of justice caused you to take Keith’s side whenever the instructors blamed him unfairly for anything that went wrong, which occurred several times a week; he defended you when the other cadets insinuated that you were only where you were because of your parents, rather than on your own merits. Neither of you could adequately explain why you felt the need to stand up for one another. Your protective attitudes of each other should have made you friendlier towards one another, but in reality it seemed to only antagonise you both further.

When not in training, the two of you stayed as far away from each other as possible. You spent all of your spare time with either James or Lance and his friends – in particular, his team engineer, Hunk, whom you adored almost as much as you did Lance - and Keith did whatever it was he did when he was on his own.

Probably writing angsty poetry about how nobody understood him.

In the end, though, your continual spirited defense of Keith counted for nothing. After one too many disciplinary issues, he was expelled from the Garrison. Lance was ecstatic, as Keith’s unceremonious exit meant that he could finally join the fighter pilot training program. He was adamant that you would join himself and Hunk on their team, and that together you were going to be the best team the Garrison had ever seen.

For some reason, though, Keith’s departure didn’t fill you with joy. Rather, you found yourself feeling lost without your training partner. You didn’t seem to function as effectively without him. Most of the other trainees felt your wrath during flight simulations, your frustration at their lack of trust in your instincts evident. As a result, you made life as difficult as possible for the other recruits – particularly James, who was the top student at the Garrison, the favourite cadet of practically every Commanding Officer, and the most obvious candidate for your new training partner.

You eventually reached a decision that you dared not mention to the instructors, especially your parents - if you couldn’t fly with Keith, you didn’t want to fly with anyone. Not even Lance.

And you couldn’t figure out why.

**************************************

You winced as you saw the message flash across the screen.

**[Simulation Failed]**

Commander Iverson scowled as Lance, Hunk and Pidge exited the flight simulator. “Roll out, donkeys!”

He turned to face the rest of the class. “Well, let’s see if we can’t use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you students. Y/L/N – can you point out the mistakes these three so-called cadets made in the simulator?”

“The engineer puked in the main gearbox.” Hunk’s face still had a slightly greenish tinge to it.

Iverson barked, “Yes. As everyone knows, vomit is _not_ an approved lubricant for engine systems. What else?”

“The Comm Spec removed their safety harness,” you continued. Pidge looked ashamed.

Glancing apologetically at your best friend, you concluded, “The pilot crashed.”

“Correct. And worst of all, the whole jump, they’re arguing with each other! Heck, if you’re going to be this bad individually, you’d better at least be able to work as a _team!_ Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astro-explorers, but these kind of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission.”

Pidge looked indignant. “That’s not true, sir!”  
  
Iverson turned and glowered. “What did you say?!”

Lance clapped his hand over Pidge’s mouth, who continued to rant furiously into his hand. “Sorry, sir! I-I-I think he may have hit his head when he fell out of his chair. But point taken.”  
  
Iverson continued to glare at the three unfortunate cadets. “I hope I don’t need to remind you that the only reason you’re here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out. _Don’t_ follow in his footsteps. Next!”

You gave a one-armed hug to Lance, who looked mutinous at the reminder that he was only in the fighter pilot program due to Keith’s expulsion. “Hey, you did much better than last time, Pretty Boy. At least you got off the ground for this one.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s get out of here. I really don’t need to watch Griffin gloat when he gets another perfect score.”

**************************************

Lance and Hunk hid around the corner while Iverson barked at everyone to head back to their dorms for lights out.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Hunk whispered nervously.

Lance scoffed. “You heard Commander Iverson. We need to bond as a team. We’re going to grab Pidge, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls, maybe…”

Hunk looked at Lance. “OK, I’m just… I’m just saying this here, right now, on the record: This is a bad idea.”

The other boy snorted. “You know, for someone in a space exploration program, you don’t have much of a sense of adventure.”  
  
“All of your little ‘adventures’ end up with me in the principal’s office,” Hunk reminded him.

A sudden movement caused both boys to hide around the corner. Lance dared a glance to see what was happening, and found himself staring into your unimpressed face.  
  
“And just what do you two knuckleheads think you’re doing?” you asked with mock severity. “You know Commander Iverson will skin you alive if he finds you out of your dorms after lights out.”  
  
“Oh, Y/N, it’s just you. We thought it was someone important,” Lance teased. He never seemed to care that your parents were two of the highest ranking officers in the Garrison. It was one of the reasons you were so fond of him.

Suddenly, the three of you spotted Pidge furtively checking the hallway before exiting Iverson’s office.

“Where is _he_ going?” Lance queried.

The three of you followed the younger cadet, watching curiously as they set up some complicated looking equipment on the Garrison rooftop. Eventually, Pidge popped on a pair of headphones and seemed to be listening intently to something.

Sneaking up behind the youngster, Lance carefully removed the headphones to speak into Pidge’s ear. “You come up here to rock out?”

Pidge gave a startled yell. “Agh! Oh, Lance, Hunk, Y/N. No, um, just looking at stars.”

“Hey, where’d you get this stuff? It doesn’t look like Garrison tech,” Lance said.  
  
“I built it,” Pidge replied proudly.

You gave the tiny comms tech an impressed look. “You built all this?”  
  
Hunk held out a hand to touch the equipment, and Pidge gave it an annoyed smack. “Stop it!” Pidge looked at you with pride. “With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.”  
  
Lance expression was sceptical. “That right? All the way to Kerberos?”

Pidge looked away, not responding to Lance’s query. Lance continued his interrogation. “You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up. What’s your deal?”

Pidge continued to ignore Lance’s questions. He went on persistently, “Look, Pidge, if we’re going to bond as a team, we can’t have any secrets.”

With a sigh, Pidge responded. “Fine. The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos Mission wasn’t lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake… STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!”

Hunk groaned but pulled his hand away from the tech. Pidge continued. “… So I’ve been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter.”

Hunk’s eyes widened. “Whoa, what? Aliens?”  
  
Lance rolled his eyes. “OK, so you’re insane. Got it.”  
  
Pidge scowled before holding up a sketchbook filled with chaotic looking scribble. “I’m serious! They keep repeating one word: ‘Voltron’. And tonight, it’s going crazier than I have _ever_ heard it.”

“How crazy?” you asked with a frown.

All at once, the four of you heard alarms blaring. Commander Iverson’s voice boomed over the intercom. “Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: All students are to remain in barracks until further notice.”

You pointed at a fiery object appearing in the sky. “Guys, look!”

“What’s going on? Is that a meteor? A very, very big… meteor?” Hunk asked, his tone of voice indicating he didn’t really believe that it was a meteor.

Pidge grabbed a pair of binoculars and focused on the object. “It’s a ship!”

Lance grabbed the binoculars from Pidge and looked at the object. “Holy crow! I can’t believe what I’m seeing! That’s _not_ one of ours!”

“No, it’s one of theirs,” Pidge said seriously.

“So wait, there really _are_ aliens out there?” Hunk sounded awestruck.

You watched as the alien spacecraft crashed into the desert. The Garrison was quick to send out land rovers to the crash site.

Pidge sounded excited. “We’ve gotta see that ship!”

You followed the younger cadet eagerly, motioning to Lance to hurry up.

“Hunk, come on!” Lance encouraged his friend.  
  
“Oh, this is the worst team-building exercise ever,” Hunk whined as he reluctantly trailed behind you to the crash site.

**************************************

It hadn’t taken long for the Garrison to set up a quarantine zone around the crash site. The four of you looked down from the cliff, watching the scene with interest.

Lance was looking at the alien craft through the binoculars. “Whoa. What the heck is _that_ thing? And who the heck is _she?”_

“Lance!” You smacked him in the back of the head. Trust him to be distracted by a female Garrison officer.

He rubbed the back of his head. “Ow! Ah, right, alien ship. Man, we’ll never get past all those guards to get a look.”

“Aw, man. Yeah, we… yeah, I guess there’s nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?” Hunk sounded anything but disappointed at this prospect.

Pidge stopped him. “Wait. They set up a camera in there and I grabbed this feed. Look!”  
  
You crowded around the screen and noticed a familiar face, although his appearance was quite different from when he’d left for Kerberos. A white forelock, a prominent scar across his nose, and what looked like a prosthetic arm were now a part of the man who had left Earth more than a year ago.

“Shiro,” you whispered, staring at the man that most cadets considered their idol. He was more than that to you, though. You had known the older man since childhood, and he had become a very close friend and trusted advisor within a very short space of time once you’d officially joined the Academy.

Shiro struggled against the restraints holding him in place on the table as Garrison technicians examined him. “Hey! What are you doing?”

You heard Iverson’s voice. “Calm down, Shiro. We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests on you.”

“You have to listen to me!” Shiro sounded frantic as he continued to struggle. “They destroyed worlds! Aliens are coming!”

Lance looked awestruck. “That’s Shiro! The pilot of the Kerberos Mission. That guy’s my hero!”  
  
“Guess he’s not dead in space after all,” Hunk observed.  
  
Pidge’s face grew concerned. “Where’s the rest of the crew?”  
  
You shushed them as you tried to listen to the feed onscreen. Iverson asked Shiro if he had any idea of how long he had been gone.

“I don’t know,” Shiro cried. “Months? Years? Look, there’s _no time._ Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They’re probably on their way. They’ll destroy us! We have to find Voltron!”

“Voltron!” Pidge squeaked. Your eyes widened in surprise at the confirmation of what Pidge had mentioned only moments earlier.

A technician grabbed Shiro’s right arm. “Sir, take a look at this. It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic.”  
  
Iverson grunted. “Put him under until we know what that thing can do.”  
  
“Don’t, don’t put me under! No! No, there’s no time! Let me go!” The technicians ignored Shiro’s pleas, restraining him as he struggled in vain to sit up.

Pidge grew upset. “They didn’t ask about the rest of the crew.”  
  
Lance frowned. “What are they doing? The guy’s a legend. They’re not even gonna listen to him?”

You snorted derisively. You knew how Admiral Sanda ran the Garrison. Commander Iverson wouldn’t be allowed listen to Shiro – even if he wanted to – until it was far too late. Your face grew determined. “We have to get him out.”

Hunk protested. “Uh, I hate to be the voice of reason here, always, but weren’t we just watching on TV because there’s _no way_ to get past the guards?”

“That was before we were properly motivated,” Lance countered. “We’ve just got to think. Could we tunnel in?”  
  
“Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs,” Pidge proposed.

“Or we could dress up like cooks, sneak into the commissary… little late-night snack.” Hunk always had food on his mind.

You shook your head. “No. What we need is a distraction.”  
  
Almost exactly on cue, several explosions burst in the distance, causing Lance, Hunk and Pidge to cry out in alarm.

“Is that the aliens?” cried Hunk. “Are.. Tha… The… Is that the aliens? Are they here? They got here so quick!”

“No. Those explosions _were_ a distraction, for _him!”_ Pidge pointed at an approaching hoverbike. “The Garrison’s headed towards the blast, and he’s sneaking in from the other side!”  
  
Lance viewed the new arrival through the binoculars. “No way! Oh, he is _not_ going to beat us in there! That guy is always trying to one-up me!”

Your heart stuttered for some reason as you grabbed the binoculars from him, ignoring his protests that he was still using them. There was only one person that Lance viewed as a rival. But it couldn’t possibly be… and yet it was. Even with a bandana covering the bottom half of his face, you recognised him immediately.

“Who is it?” quizzed Hunk.  
  
_“Keith!”_ Lance sounded disgusted. Life just got a hell of a lot more complicated.

“Who?” asked Pidge, who had joined the Garrison after Keith’s expulsion.

“Are you sure?” Hunk asked in disbelief.

“It’s him all right,” you confirmed.

“Oh, I’d recognise that mullet anywhere!” Lance huffed indignantly as he stormed towards the crash site, with the rest of you close on his heels.

“Who’s Keith?” Pidge repeated, still getting no response.

Taking pity on the frustrated cadet, you replied, “He got kicked out of the Garrison for refusing to follow orders.”

As you crept closer to the quarantined area, the technicians were still examining Shiro. “These readings are off the chart,” one of them said, examining his prosthetic arm.

You noticed Keith enter the medical bay. With an impressive display of martial arts, he knocked out the three technicians still inside, before he ran up to the examination table. His face betrayed his shock.

“Shiro?” he whispered softly. He whipped out a dagger to cut the bonds holding Shiro and attempted to carry him out just as you and the others arrived.

Lance raced over to him and grabbed Shiro’s other arm, lifting him over his own shoulder. “Nope. No you… No no no no no no no you don’t. _I’m_ saving Shiro.”

Keith looked at him with a frown. “Who are you?”  
  
Lance seemed offended at the lack of recognition. “Who am I? Uh, the name’s Lance.”

Keith continued to stare at him blankly. Lance rolled his eyes. “We were in the same class at the Garrison?”  
  
The ebony-haired teen seemed doubtful. “Really? Are you an engineer?”

“No, I’m a pilot. We were, like, rivals.” He rolled his eyes at Keith’s blank gaze. “You know, Lance and Keith, neck-and-neck.”  
  
“Oh, wait, I remember you. You’re a cargo pilot,” Keith said dismissively.

Lance’s eyes narrowed. “Well, not anymore. I’m fighter class now thanks to you washing out.”

“Well, congratulations.” Keith’s compliment sounded decidedly sarcastic. He and Lance started carrying the still unconscious Shiro out of the quarantine bay.

You snorted. “As much as I’m enjoying this riveting display of alpha-male behaviour, I think we need to get out of here pronto!”

Keith raised an eyebrow as he recognised you. “Y/N. Still trying to tell me what to do, Princess?”

“Be nice if you listened for once, Flyboy,” you snapped back, irritated at the reminder of the nickname he had bestowed upon you when you trained together. It was a mocking reference to your classmates’ perception of you as Garrison ‘royalty’.

Hunk looked around and noticed more Garrison staff heading in your direction. “Oh man, they’re coming back and they do _not_ look happy. We gotta go. Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?”  
  
It didn’t matter if Keith _did_ mind. He had no say as everyone scrambled onto the hoverbike, tipping it over due to the extra people.

“Is this thing going to hold all of us?” you asked sceptically as you squeezed on directly behind him, hands on his shoulders as he took off.

“No,” Keith replied shortly, throwing a brief glare over his shoulder at you.  
  
“Why am _I_ holding this guy?” whined Pidge, struggling under Shiro’s weight.

“Can’t this thing go any faster?” demanded Lance.

Keith glanced over his shoulder. “We could toss out some non-essential weight.”  
  
“Oh, right.” Lance paused for a heartbeat. “Okay, so that was an insult. I get it.”

“Big man, lean left!” Keith called over his shoulder. Hunk complied and the hoverbike banked left, which caused some of the Garrison rovers following you to crash.

Hunk turned to look behind. “Aw man! Mr Harris just took out Professor Montgomery!” He looked again. “No, no, he’s fine.”  
  
“Big man, lean right!” The hoverbike jumped over one cliff and then the next as Hunk leaned in the opposite direction, causing another rover to crash.

“Guys?” Hunk sounded concerned. “Is th-th-th-tha-tha… Is that a cliff up ahead?”  
  
“Ooooh no no no! No no no no…!” Lance cried.

“Yup.” You could hear the smirk in Keith’s voice, and your grip tightened on his jacket as he increased the speed on the hoverbike.

“What are you doing? You’re going to kill us all!” you shrieked, burying your face in the back of his jacket so that you couldn’t see your imminent demise rushing towards you.  
  
“Shut up and trust me!”

Everyone screamed as the hoverbike plunged over the cliff’s edge.

Somehow, the show-off managed to avoid crashing and actually landed the hoverbike safely at the bottom of the cliff. He continued flying into the desert, the Garrison staff watching in disbelief from far above you.

You were so relieved to be alive, you could have kissed him.

**************************************

Keith pulled up outside a rundown old shack. Lance and Hunk helped Shiro to dismount, much to Pidge’s immense relief. The petite recruit had struggled under the weight of the much larger man.

You stood directly in front of the dark-haired teen who had aggravated you for so long. “That was some pretty fancy driving back there, Flyboy. I’m impressed.”  
  
He paused halfway through taking off his gloves, cautious of your praise. “What’s the catch?”  
  
“No catch.” You blew out an irritated breath at his disbelieving gaze. “You know me, Keith. I don’t hand out compliments unless I think people deserve them.”

Shiro and the others watched your exchange with interest, Lance especially. Pidge was the only one who didn’t know about your tense relationship with the disgraced former cadet, having joined the Academy after his dismissal.

“Look, we’re _all_ in the bad books with the Garrison now after that little stunt we just pulled. Might as well try to play nice with each other.” You held out your hand. “Truce?”

Keith stared at your hand suspiciously for a moment, before shrugging briefly. “Truce.”

He grudgingly reached for your hand to confirm your temporary alliance. The instant your palms connected, a brief golden glow surrounded your hands.

_‘What the heck…?’_

Wait, was that _Keith’s_ voice in your head?

“Oh my God,” whispered Shiro.

“Was that…?” Pidge started.

“What?” Lance asked, confused. “What just happened?”

Hunk squealed in excitement. “Awwwwwww! You guys are _life-bonded!”_

You stared in horror at your still joined hands, before yanking yours away as if it had been burned. Keith looked no less shocked. You could feel each other’s disgust and embarrassment roiling through your consciousness.

 _'You have GOT to be kidding me!’_ You and Keith had the exact same thought at the exact same moment.

You shook your head violently in denial. “Nope. _No no no no no_. This is not happening. I am absolutely _not_ life-bonded to some mullet-haired emo flyboy who thinks that rules apply to everybody except him!”

So much for the truce.

Keith scowled at you. “Well, if you think _I’m_ happy about being life-bonded to some spoiled princess whose fight-or-flight response seems to be permanently set to ‘fight’, then you can think again!”

“Ladies do not start fights! But they sure as heck can finish them!” you hissed at him, your hands clenched into fists as you stood with your nose barely an inch from his.

Keith snorted. “Princess, if you’re a lady then I’m from another planet.”

“ _Don’t_ call me Princess!” you snarled.  
  
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Keith retorted, not sounding the least little bit apologetic. “I didn’t mean to call you a spoiled princess. I meant _brat.”_

The two of you glared at each other, your stances unconsciously mirroring one another as you both crossed your arms over your chest, almost identical expressions of absolute loathing on your faces as you stood only inches apart.

Lance looked almost as horror-stricken as the two of you, the thought of his best friend being life-bonded to his self-declared rival almost too hideous to contemplate. You were _his_ friend first, but _of course_ Keith had to go and one-up him – again - by getting himself life-bonded to you. Typical.

Pidge and Hunk appeared intrigued more than anything else. Life-bonds were extremely rare, and Pidge in particular was curious as to how the whole thing worked. Maybe, just maybe, you and Keith would be willing to partake in some scientific research…

Shiro found himself grinning internally. He’d known since you were cadets that you and Keith had more in common than either of you realised, and he’d always felt that the two of you would make a great team if you could just figure out how to put aside your differences and work together. Fate seemed to agree, and had apparently taken matters into its own hands.

It definitely wouldn’t be boring while the two of you tried to come to grips with your new relationship.


	2. Bullet The Blue Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith shows Shiro and the rest of you what he’s discovered, and both you and he try to pretend that the previous day’s startling revelation about your relationship didn’t happen.
> 
> Part 2 of Series 1, Ep 1 "The Rise of Voltron"

You stood with Shiro watching the sunrise, as he examined his prosthetic arm. The two of you were speaking softly so that you wouldn’t disturb the others, who were still sleeping inside. You heard footsteps behind you, and tried not to groan when you noticed Keith approaching.

He smiled at Shiro, ignoring your presence completely. “It’s good to have you back.”

“Heh. It’s good to be back.” Shiro returned the smile with a warm one of his own. It had never been any secret that he had a soft spot for the hot-headed young man. Shiro had always treated him with respect, and had taken on the unofficial role of big brother to the wayward teen not long after they met, which explained why Keith was willing to risk the wrath of the Garrison to rescue him.

“So what happened out there? Where… where were you?” Keith asked.

Shiro was silent for a moment. “I wish I could tell you. My head’s still pretty scrambled. I was on an alien ship but… somehow I escaped. It’s all a blur.” He looked at Keith. “How did you know to come save me when I crashed?”  
  
Keith’s eyes flicked to you, then back to Shiro, before he answered. “You should come see this.”  
  
The three of you headed inside the shack where Pidge, Hunk and Lance had just woken up. Keith went to a wall and pulled off a sheet, revealing a board covered with a map of the surrounding area, hand-scribbled notes in Keith’s messy writing, and complex diagrams drawn all over it.

Shiro stared at the board with interest. “ _What_ have you been working on?”

Keith shrugged. “I can’t explain it, really. After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kinda… lost and… felt myself drawn out to this place. It’s like something… some energy was telling me to search.”

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “For what?”  
  
Another shrug. “Well, I didn’t really know at the time… until I stumbled across _this_ area.” He pointed to the map. “It’s an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night. Then _you_ showed up.”

Shiro smiled at each of you in turn. “I should thank you all for getting me out. Lance, right?”

He held out his prosthetic hand to your friend, who stared at it uncertainly for a moment before hesitantly shaking it. Shiro offered his hand to Hunk and Pidge as well, with Pidge shaking it enthusiastically while Hunk stared at him in awe.

You ignored Shiro’s hand, opting instead to give your friend a warm hug as he turned to you. “I’m so glad you’re home, Shiro,” you whispered.  
  
“Me too, Y/N,” he murmured. You felt a surge of jealousy along the life-bond when Shiro returned your embrace, and glanced curiously at Keith, who hurriedly smothered the feeling, although he still had a black look on his face.

“The nervous guy’s Hunk. I’m Pidge. So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?” the younger cadet asked anxiously.

Shiro looked uncertain. “I’m not sure. I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it’s just bits and pieces.”

“Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the _aliens,”_ urged Hunk. “Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they coming for all of us? Like, where are they at this very moment?”

“I can’t really put it together,” Shiro replied. “I… I remember the word ‘Voltron’.” You and Pidge gasped at the recognition of that word. “It’s some kind of weapon they’re looking for, but I don’t know why. Whatever it is, I think we need to find it before they do.”

Hunk looked far too innocent as he spoke again. “Well, last night, I was rummaging through Pidge’s stuff, and I found this picture. Look! It’s his girlfriend!”

Pidge snatched the picture off the larger boy. “Hey, gimme that! What were you doing in my stuff?”  
  
“I was looking for a candy bar. But then, I started reading his diary…”

“WHAT?” Pidge shrieked, snatching back the book that Hunk held up.

Hunk ignored the tiny teen’s outrage. “And I noticed that the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line.”

Keith looked confused. “Frown who?”

“It’s a number describing the emission spectrum of an element,” you responded a touch smugly. The unspoken _Duh_ was not lost on him, and he narrowed his eyes while you returned his gaze with a cool one of your own.

“Only _this_ element doesn’t exist on Earth,” Hunk explained further. “I thought it might be this Voltron, and I think I can build a machine to look for it. Kinda like a Voltron Geiger-counter.”

Lance looked impressed. “Hunk, you big gassy genius!”

“It’s pretty fascinating, really. The wavelength looks like this.” Hunk pulled out a graph of paper showing the wavelength he’d transcribed.

Keith’s eyes narrowed again. “Give me that,” he demanded, grabbing the paper from Hunk. He stared at it for a fraction of a second, before holding it up in front of the photo of an array of boulders that he had mentioned only minutes before.

_‘No way,’_ you thought as you stared at the photo and Hunk’s graph.

_‘Yes way, Princess,’_ came Keith’s corresponding reply in your mind.  
  
It was a perfect match.

**************************************

It took a few hours, but eventually Hunk completed his Voltron-finding device. Using it and the map that Keith had drawn, he led the team out into the desert, and eventually you arrived at a group of caves in the cliffs.

Lance looked spooked. “OK, I admit it. This is super freaky.”

Hunk gazed at the device in his hand. “I’m getting a reading.”

The larger boy led all of you to a cave covered in ancient carvings. They were absolutely beautiful, in an alien sort of way. They didn’t look like anything you’d seen before, and yet something seemed to tug at the back of your mind when you stared at them. There was a sense of familiarity, almost as if you should recognise what you were looking at.

“What are these?” asked Shiro, gazing at them in wonder.

“These are the lion carvings I was telling you about,” Keith replied. “They’re everywhere around here.”

Before you could stop him, Lance approached one of the carvings, reaching out a hand to touch it. The entire carving lit up in response, causing gasps of surprise from everyone.

“Whoa… whoa!” Lance exclaimed, his expression that of a person who immediately regrets doing whatever it is they’ve just done.

Keith frowned. “Huh. They’ve never done that before.”

Suddenly, the ground beneath your feet briefly glowed a bright blue before it collapsed, making all of you scream as everyone slid downward into a cavern of shallow water. Keith landed on his back, and the breath was knocked out of his lungs as you landed on top of him. You stared at each other, faces only inches apart, wide-eyed with shock, before you hastily scrambled off him and stood as far away from him as possible.

“They _are_ everywhere.” Lance’s voice was filled with wonder. His statement drew your eyes to the enormous blue robotic lion which was sitting inside what appeared to be a force field. You went and stood next to him, staring at it with your mouth open.

“Is this it?” asked Pidge. “Is this the Voltron?”

“It must be,” Shiro responded.

“This is what’s been causing all this crazy energy out here,” Keith said, walking towards the blue lion. You and the others followed slowly. “Looks like there’s a force field around it.”

_‘Thank you, Captain Obvious,’_ you mentally threw at him. He glared at you but said nothing in response.

“Does anyone else get the feeling this thing is staring at them?” Lance asked, stepping from side to side as he walked towards the Blue Lion.

“Um, nooooo,” said Shiro.

Lance continued walking in a zigzag pattern. “Yeah. The eyes are totally following me.”

“Lance, honey, it’s a robot. Its eyes can’t follow you.” You felt a flicker of annoyance along your life-bond following your term of endearment for your best friend. ‘ _Well, if that’s going to happen every time I speak to somebody of the opposite sex, then this life-bond thing is going to be all kinds of awkward.’_

_‘No argument from me there, Princess.’_ Keith approached the force field and placed a hand on it. Nothing happened. “I wonder how we get through this.”

“Maybe you just have to knock,” said Lance facetiously, as he did just that. The force field instantly reacted to his touch, dissipating and igniting the area around you with a bright blue glow.

A second later, an image appeared of five lions joining together to form what appeared to be one large robot.

“Woah!” everyone said simultaneously.

“Uh, did everyone just see that?” queried Lance.

“Voltron is a robot! Voltron is a huge, _huge,_ awesome robot!” Hunk sounded as if he’d just discovered that Santa Claus is actually real.

“And this thing is only one part of it!” cried Pidge excitedly. “I wonder where the rest of them are.”  
  
Shiro looked grim. “This is what they’re looking for.”

“Incredible,” Keith whispered. He felt your awe and fascination echoing his own as you also stared at the giant robot lion with wonder.

Without warning, the giant Blue Lion lowered its head and opened its mouth, seeming to beckon all of you to enter. Hunk and Pidge shrieked in terror, and you looked at it warily. Lance, however, hesitated for only a second before gleefully entering; he easily evaded your outstretched hand as you tried in vain to hold him back.

The rest of you reluctantly followed Lance inside, arriving just as he took a seat in the cockpit.

“Here we go,” Lance said. The seat jolted forward suddenly, making him yelp, and the command console activated on its own. Recovering quickly, Lance rubbed his hands together. “Heheh. All right! Very nice!”

Hunk spoke hesitantly. “OK guys, I feel the need to point out, just so that we’re all, y’know, aware. We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now.”  
  
Lance’s face grew puzzled. “Whoa, did you guys just hear that?”  
  
“Hear what?” Keith demanded.

“I… I think it’s talking to me,” Lance said softly, his head tilted to the side as he appeared to listen to something that only he could hear. “Hmmm. Um…”

He pressed a few buttons, and suddenly the Lion stood up and roared. Hunk and Pidge screamed in alarm.

Lance peered at the console. “OK. Got it. Now let’s try _this.”_

He pushed the controls forward quickly, and the Blue Lion flew out of the cavern swiftly, turning wildly in the air and completing somersaults. Lance whooped loudly. Pidge and Hunk screamed in terror yet again.

The speed at which the Lion flew out of the cave threw you backwards, causing you to collide with Keith’s chest. He unthinkingly wrapped an arm around your waist to steady you, even as he yelled at Lance. “YOU ARE. THE WORST. PILOT. EVER!”

“Lance, sweetie, I love you, but I gotta agree with Keith on this one!”  
  
Another brief flare of jealousy sparked along your life-bond at the mention of your affection for Lance, followed almost immediately by a smug sense of satisfaction. _‘Nice to know you think I’m right for once, Princess.’_

_‘Don’t get used to it, Flyboy. And stop calling me Princess!’_

_‘Tell you what, the minute I meet a real live princess, I’ll start calling you something else.’_ Terrific. You were going to be stuck with that frakking nickname for the rest of your life.

The Blue Lion landed on the ground and proceeded to run at great speed across the desert sand.

“Isn’t this awesome?!” Lance was the only one who seemed to be enjoying things.

“Make it stop! Make it stop!” Hunk pleaded.

“I’m not making it do _anything_ ,” Lance protested. “It’s like it’s on autopilot.”  
  
Without warning, the Blue Lion lifted off the ground and started flying again, heading towards the atmosphere.

“Where are you going?” Keith demanded. Neither of you noticed that his arm was still around your waist, or that your hand had unconsciously joined his, your fingers intertwined.

Life-bonds are sneaky like that.

Lance replied to Keith’s question. “I just said it’s on autopilot! It says there’s an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we’re supposed to stop it.”

You gave him a strange look. “What did it say, exactly?”

Lance shrugged. “Well, it’s not like it’s saying _words,_ more like feeding _ideas_ into my _brain_. Kind of.”

“Well, if this thing is the weapon they’re coming for, why don’t we just, like – I don’t know – give it to them? Maybe they’ll leave us alone.” Hunk paused, before looking apologetically at the Lion’s interior. “Sorry, Lion, nothing personal.”  
  
Shiro shook his head. “You don’t understand. These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There’s no bargaining with them. They won’t stop until everything is dead.”  
  
Everyone turned to look at Hunk. “Oh. Never mind then.”

Almost as soon as the Blue Lion had left Earth’s atmosphere, a huge alien warship appeared.

“Uh… Holy crow! Is that really an alien ship?” gasped Hunk.  
  
Shiro’s voice sounded frightened as he whispered, “They found me…”

The warship opened fire on the Blue Lion.

“We’ve got to get it out of here!” cried Pidge.

“Hang on!” Lance said, frantically steering the Lion through the onslaught of laser fire. “Ah! All right! OK, I think I know what to do!”

“Be careful, man! This isn’t the simulator!” Pidge admonished him.

“Well, that’s good. I always wreck the simulator,” Lance reminded everyone cheerfully.

_‘We’re all going to die,’_ Keith’s panicked thought sounded in your mind. Your own thoughts were very similar.

Somehow, Lance managed to shoot a cannon from the mouth of the Lion, blasting the entire length of the alien craft.

“Let’s try _this.”_ He pushed a button, and the Lion’s claws tore a hole into the side of the warship.  
  
“Nice job, Lance!” Shiro congratulated him.

“OK, I think it’s time to get these guys away from our planet.” Nobody disagreed with Lance.

As he flew away from Earth, the warship pursued the Lion, seeming to gain on you. However, they no longer attacked, instead seeming content to merely follow.

“It’s weird. They’re not trying to shoot us. They’re just chasing us,” Lance said, sounding confused.

“OK, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is _good?_ I am not on board with this new direction, guys.” Poor Hunk was not having a good time.

“Where are we?” Keith asked.

“Edge of the solar system.” Shiro pointed. “There’s Kerberos.”

Everyone stared, disbelieving, as the Lion flew past the icy moon of Pluto.  
  
Your voice betrayed your shock. “It takes _months_ for our ships to get out this far. We got out here in _five seconds.”_  
  
What appeared to be a giant wormhole in space suddenly appeared before you.

“What is that?” Hunk asked worriedly

Lance looked at him. “Uh, this may seem crazy, but I think the Lion wants us to go through there.”

“Where does it go?” you asked curiously.

“I… I don’t know. Shiro, you’re the senior officer here. What should we do?” Lance deferred to the older man.

Shiro pondered for a few seconds. “Whatever’s happening, the Lion knows more than we do. I say we trust it, but we’re a team now. We should decide together.”  
  
All of you looked at each other in silence, before realising that everyone had reached a mutual consensus.

“All right. Guess we’re all ditching class tomorrow.” Lance steered the Blue Lion through the wormhole, which thankfully disappeared before the alien warship could follow.

If you ever made it back home, you were probably going to be grounded for the rest of your life.


	3. The (Castle of) Lions Sleeps Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Blue Lion takes you to the far reaches of the galaxy, and you find an enchanted castle and a sleeping princess. Looks like Keith needs to find a new nickname for you, after all…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 3 of Series 1, Episode 1 "The Rise of Voltron"

The turbulence of entering the wormhole and then very quickly exiting at a different part of the universe caused everyone aboard the Blue Lion to groan in unison.

“Whoa,” whispered Lance. “That was…”

Hunk paused in the middle of vomiting to apologise to everyone, before continuing to empty the contents of his stomach. Pidge expressed surprise that it had taken him so long to do so.

Shiro frowned. “I don’t recognise any of these constellations. We must be a long, long way from Earth.”

Lance pointed out of the cockpit window. “The Lion seems to want to go to this planet. I think… I think it’s going home.”  
  
As the Blue Lion blasted toward the planet’s atmosphere, the team were again squashed together from the intense turbulence. You were once again pressed against Keith’s chest, and once again he unconsciously placed an arm around your torso to keep you upright. It actually felt sort of… natural.

Both of you seemed to realise your position simultaneously, looking at each other with startled glances even as your faces flushed with embarrassment and distaste. Hastily you untangled yourself from Keith, almost falling into Lance’s lap in the process. Keith scowled, and shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans in an attempt to prevent himself from unthinkingly grabbing you again.

Lance tried to break away from the crush of bodies suddenly crowding around him. “Guys, personal space! Hunk, your breath is killing me.”

Hunk sounded anxious. “Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious wormhole? Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?”  
  
“It got us away from that alien warship, didn’t it?” cried Lance.  
  
Keith snorted with derision. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we’re _in_ an alien warship.”  
  
“Oh, are you scared?” Lance mocked.  
  
“With you at the helm? Terrified,” Keith deadpanned.

“Will you two just _shut up?”_ you groaned in frustration.

“Alright, knock it off!” said Shiro sternly. “No one’s happy to be in this situation, but we’re here now. If we want to get through this, we’ve got to do it together.”  
  
“So what do we do?” you asked softly.

“First, we find out where we’re headed. Lance?” Shiro looked at your friend.

Lance looked apologetic. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. The Lion’s not talking to me anymore… Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Shhh! Listen. I think I hear something.”

You all listened intently. A squeaking sound was heard throughout the cockpit.  
  
“I’m hearing it too!” Keith said, sounding surprised.

“It’s, uh… it’s kind of a… a high-pitched squeal?” Hunk sounded unsure.

Suddenly, all of you held your noses in disgust as an offensive smell seeped through the cockpit. Lance cackled merrily even as he was told off by Shiro, Keith and Hunk. You smacked him in the back of the head. “Come on, Lance!”

He rubbed the back of his head. “But seriously, there is a castle up ahead.”

Everyone stared in amazement as the Blue Lion landed in the courtyard of the glittering castle.

“Wow,” you muttered.  
  
“Keep your guard up,” Shiro warned all of you.

“Something wrong?” asked Pidge.

Shiro’s face was grim. “My crew was captured by aliens once. I’m not going to let it happen again.”

After you had all exited the Blue Lion, it stood up, causing everyone to step back, startled.

“Oh no! Oh no! I knew it was going to eat us! No!” wailed Hunk as he cowered in fear.  
  
The Blue Lion roared, and the castle doors appeared to open in response.

Hunk peeked around Shiro. “Oh, the door is open. Guess I was wrong about you,” he apologised to the Lion.

Walking cautiously through the castle doors, you were greeted by an eerie silence.

“Hellooo?” called Hunk. His voice echoed in the emptiness of the castle. He shrugged as you all stared at him in consternation.

“From the size of the Lion, I expected these steps to be bigger.” Pidge sounded disappointed.

Suddenly, a beam of blue light appeared to activate. A computer-simulated voice sounded. **[Hold for identity scan.]**

All of you stood still in shock as the blue beam scanned everyone.

Shiro spoke to the computer. “Why are we here? What do you want with us?”

Crystal torches suddenly flared, lighting a path leading through the corridors of the castle. As the team followed the path, more torches ignited, leading everyone deeper inside the castle. Hunk’s voice echoed as he continued to call out.

“It’s like the castle has been abandoned,” you said.

As you rounded the corner, you found yourselves in a large room.

“Where are we?” asked Lance.  
  
Pidge peered at what appeared to be a control panel. “It’s some kind of control room.”

The console suddenly activated, and two cylindrical pods rose from the floor. Hunk peered apprehensively at the humanoid shape inside one of the pods. “Are these guys… dead?”

One of the pods suddenly opened, and a beautiful woman with chestnut-coloured skin, pointy elf-like ears and long white tresses opened her eyes.

“Father!” she cried out, even as she fell out of the pod.

Lance rushed to catch her, blushing furiously when he noticed how lovely she was. He immediately turned on the flirty persona. _“Hello.”_

You could feel Keith rolling his eyes at your best friend’s actions. Weirdly, you didn’t get the sense that he found this strange alien female attractive. If anything, he seemed completely indifferent to her.

The lady stared at Lance in puzzlement. “Who are you? Where am I?”  
  
Lance continued to smirk seductively at her. “I’m Lance. And you’re right here in my arms.”   
  
Now it was _your_ turn to roll your eyes, and you heard Keith’s mental laughter at your response.

The alien stared at Lance. “Your… ears.”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
She grimaced. “They’re _hideous._ What’s wrong with them?”

“Nothing’s wrong with them!” Lance sounded indignant. “They heard exactly what you said about them!”

The girl grabbed Lance by the ears and put him in a headlock. “Who are you? Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?”

“A giant blue lion brought us here! That’s all we know!” Lance squealed as he tried in vain to escape her clutches.

“How do you have the Blue Lion?” she demanded. “What happened to its Paladin? What are you all doing here? Unless…”

She gasped. “How long has it been?”  
  
Shiro stepped forward. “We don’t know what you’re talking about. Why don’t you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help.”

“I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea. I’ve got to find out where we are and how long we’ve been asleep.” She went to the console and placed her hands on it. A screen immediately appeared.

The second pod opened, and a red-haired man with an impressive moustache awoke. He gasped when he noticed Lance.

“Enemy combatants!” He jumped towards Lance, who side-stepped him easily, causing the man to lose his balance. “Quiznak! You’re lucky I have a case of the old ‘Sleep Chamber Knees’. Otherwise, I’d grab your head like this, wrap you up like so and… one, two, three…” The man imitated fighting moves and snapped his fingers. “… Sleepy time!”

Lance puffed out his chest. “Well, before you did that, I’d… Hoo! Ha! Hiyah!” He jumped around in a poor imitation of rudimentary karate. “… Like that.”  
  
The two of them continued to threaten each other – in the most non-threatening way you had ever witnessed – while the others watched on.

_‘I can’t believe this guy is your best friend. I almost feel sorry for you,’_ Keith snickered. You mentally gave him the middle finger, which just made the snickering worse.

Before you could respond, you heard Princess Allura gasp. “It can’t be…”  
  
“What is it?” asked the redhead, suddenly serious.

“We’ve been asleep for ten thousand years!” Allura told you all of her last memory of being awake. She had stood in the bridge of the Castle of Lions with Coran – the red-haired man – and her father, King Alfor. The Castle, which was apparently also a ship, had been under attack by Zarkon, who was intent on gaining control of Voltron.

The princess had pleaded with her father to form Voltron and fight Zarkon, but the King had been adamant that the Lions be sent away in order to minimise the risk of them falling into Zarkon’s hands. Her last memory had been of her father using a mysterious light to put her to sleep.

“Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed. Coran, Father is gone. Our entire civilisation…” Her face hardened. _“Zarkon!”_

“Zarkon…?” Shiro repeated, a bead of sweat trickling down his face.

“He was the King of the Galra,” Allura explained. “A vile creature and enemy to all free people.”  
  
“I remember now…” Shiro said softly. “I was his prisoner.”  
  
“He’s still alive? Impossible!” Allura cried.

“I can’t explain it, but it’s true. He’s searching for a super weapon called Voltron.”  
  
The princess’s expression grew steely. “He’s searching for it because he knows it’s the only thing that can defeat him, and that’s _exactly_ why we must find it before he does.”

**************************************

Princess Allura continued to stand at the console in the middle of the Sleep Chamber, a plate of what looked like green goo floating nearby.

“Princess, you must eat. It’s been ten thousand years!” Coran urged her.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Man, ten thousand years? That’s like one thousand plus ten,” Lance stated knowingly.

Keith gave him a look indicating that he clearly thought Lance was an idiot. “That’s _times_ ten.”  
  
Lance shrugged. “Whatever, _dropout.”_

You sincerely hoped the two of them wouldn’t be like this the entire time you were here, otherwise it was going to make for a very long stay.

Hunk’s stomach growled. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast and I’m starving.”

“Yeah, but you’ve thrown up, like, five times,” Pidge reminded him.  
  
“Hmm… Good point.” Hunk tasted some of the space goo, pulling a disgusted face before continuing to eat it regardless.

Shiro stared around him in wonder. “I can’t believe your civilisation created such advanced technology ten thousand years ago. It must have been an incredible place.”  
  
Coran nodded. “Yes, it was… but now it is gone and we’re the last Alteans alive.” He comforted Allura as she began to cry.

Out of nowhere, alarms started to blare and a Galra warship appeared on the console screen.

“A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!” Coran wailed in alarm.

“How did they find us?” Allura cried.

“I’m not sure, but I bet it’s Keith’s fault,” Lance proclaimed.

You face-palmed. “Lance…”

Keith glared at him. “Say whatever you’ve got to say to make yourself feel better… after getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!”

“I’LL STICK YOU IN A WORMHOLE!” Lance yelled.

The two of them appeared ready to fight, but Shiro stepped in to separate them. “Stow it, cadets! This is no time to place blame; it’s time to work as a team.” He turned to Coran. “How long before they arrive?”

“At their speed? Oh, well, uh, carry the two…” Coran started calculating on his fingers. “I’d say probably a couple of days?”

Allura grew grim. “Good. Let them come! By the time they get here, you will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon’s empire!”

“Princess, there are five of these Lions. How are we going to find the rest?” Shiro asked.

Allura moved to the centre of the Castle’s Bridge, where a Crystal was located above the floor.

“King Alfor connected the Lions to Allura’s life force,” Coran clarified. “She alone is the key to the Lions’ whereabouts.”

Allura activated the computer, opening up a map which displayed the entire universe. All of you stared in wide-eyed amazement as you stood in the middle of the image.

You squinted as you realised what you were looking at. “These are… coordinates. The Black Lion looks like it’s in the same location as the Blue Lion.”  
  
Coran seemed impressed. “Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage!”

You gave him an offended glare.

Allura nodded at you. “Very observant, Y/N. That is because the Black Lion is in the Castle.”

“To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon’s hands, King Alfor locked it in the Castle. It can only be freed if the other four Lions are present,” Coran said.

Allura continued. “As you have found, the Lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The Quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his Lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain.”

She sent the hologram of the Black Lion towards Shiro. “The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, _you_ will pilot the Black Lion.”

The Green Lion hologram moved towards Pidge. “The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, _you_ will pilot the Green Lion. The Blue Lion…”

Lance held up a hand. “Whoa. Hold up, let me guess. Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?”

Allura seemed annoyed at his self-assured smirk, choosing to ignore it as she continued.

“The Yellow Lion is caring and kind.” She sent the hologram towards Hunk. “Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together.”  
  
Hunk pointed a questioning finger to himself, seeming to doubt the princess.

“The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It’s faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, _you_ will fly the Red Lion.”

Keith’s bored expression turned to smug satisfaction.

“What? This guy?” Lance scoffed. He and Keith glared at each other. You moved to stand between the two, a hand on the chest of each of them, trying to head off the fight which you could feel simmering between them.  
  
Allura turned her gaze to you. “Y/N, you will also help to pilot the Red Lion. It is temperamental, as I said, so it needs someone who is not only instinctive but can also provide a steady influence and a voice of reason under pressure. It is… unusual… for the Red Lion to require two Paladins, but I feel that there is a connection between you and Keith which may prove beneficial in dealing with this Lion successfully.”

“Keith and Y/N are life-bonded,” Shiro explained. “I would imagine that is the connection you sense.”  
  
You and Keith both scowled at the older man, unhappy about the reminder of how you were now inextricably linked for the rest of your lives.

Allura nodded in understanding. “Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion’s coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the Castle. After ten thousand years, it… might need some work.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find it soon,” Coran assured her.

The holographic Lions roared and charged together, forming a hologram of Voltron.

“Once all the Lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe.” Allura gazed at all of you seriously.

“Awesome!” yelled Hunk. He pondered for a moment. “Wait. Okay, we’re going to be in there and flying Lions. Got that part. How do Lions turn into legs? Also, is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?”

Shiro spoke authoritatively. “You know we don’t have much time. Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one. Keith, Y/N, you two stay here. If you locate that Red Lion, go get it.”

“In the meantime, I’ll get this Castle’s defences ready,” said Allura, already bustling about the room. “They’ll be sorely needed.”

“I’ll ready a pod and load in the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion,” Coran advised Shiro and Pidge.

Both teams headed off. Lance and Hunk took off in the Blue Lion, and Shiro and Pidge boarded a flight pod. Allura prepared to open a wormhole using the power of the Castle.

Coran instructed the others. “We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other Lions open for two of your Earth hours, so you’ll have to be quick about your work. The good news is that according to my readings, both planets are relatively peaceful. So, if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives. Enjoy the trip!”

“Wait…” Pidge started.

“Wait! What? No! OK…” cried Lance.

Hunk groaned. “I did _not_ receive the memo on this.”

You and Keith watched your team-mates fly away. As Allura and Coran were both busy fortifying the Castle’s defences, the two of you decided it would be best to stay out of the way as much as possible.

“So, what do we do now?” Keith asked.  
  
“Well, Flyboy, seeing as we’re now in the presence of a _real live princess,_ ” you said, reminding him of his earlier quote. “ _You_ need to think of some other stupid name to call me. After all, you promised.”

“Sure thing, sweetheart,” Keith sighed sarcastically.

Life-bond or not, you decided you were going to shove him out of the nearest airlock at the earliest available opportunity.


	4. Mechanical Space Lions (But No Tigers or Bears, Oh My!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding the Red Lion is the easy part. Getting it to accept you and Keith proves to be just a leeeeetle bit harder…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 4 of Series 1, Episode 1 "The Rise of Voltron"

Shiro and Pidge found the Green Lion on a forest planet without too much difficulty, with Pidge managing to free it from the vines it was entangled in with relative ease.

Lance and Hunk, however, had been greeted by heavy fire from Galra fighter jets when they arrived at the mining planetoid where the Yellow Lion was located. Hunk made it through heavy laser fire and managed to retrieve the Lion in time to block the Blue Lion from the missiles that the Galra had fired upon them.

Princess Allura had advised the Paladins that the wormhole was about to close, and they made it through and returned to the Castle in the nick of time.

Lance and Hunk entered the Bridge of the Castle of Lions, groaning as they did so. You ran up to both, giving them a hug as you welcomed them back. Once again you felt that brief surge of jealousy from Keith through your life-bond at the attention you paid to the other boys, especially as you embraced Lance.

Allura smiled warmly at the boys. “You made it.”  
  
Lance groaned again. “Yeah, just barely. That was a nightmare. I almost _puked_ out there. I felt like Hunk.”  
  
“Think how I felt. I _am_ Hunk,” said the larger boy.

Pidge mentioned that it had also been a tough time obtaining the Green Lion, but the grins shared between the diminutive Paladin and Shiro made you question the sincerity of that statement.

“Did we find the Red Lion yet?” asked Shiro.

Coran replied, “Allura has just located it. There’s a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is, the Red Lion is nearby. The bad news is, it’s on board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus.” His face brightened. “But wait, good news again. _We’re_ Arus!”

Shiro looked concerned. “They’re here already?”

Coran shrugged. “Yes. Guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting… it’s more of an art than a science, hmmm?”  
  
A video transmission appeared on the Castle’s screen, and the face of a Galra general appeared. “Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire,” he growled. “I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet.”

The transmission ended as quickly as it had appeared.

“Alright, let’s not panic,” Shiro began.

“ _Not_ panic?” shrieked Hunk, who was definitely panicking. “Th-the scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us. We only have four Lions.”

“Technically, only three working Lions,” Pidge interjected.

Hunk nodded. “That’s right. Thank you, Pidge. _Three_ working Lions and a Castle that’s, like, ten thousand years old.”

Coran interrupted. “Actually, it’s ten thousand six hundred years old. You see, it was built by my grandfather…”

“Thanks, Coran,” said Hunk. “Thank you for that. See? Now is the _perfect time_ to panic!”

Allura gasped. “Wait! This Castle has a particle barrier we can activate.”  
  
Lance smirked at her. “Girl, you’ve already activated my par…”

“Lance!” you scolded, smacking him on the back of the head yet again. Keith’s approval of your action was obvious; you felt him mentally grinning through the bond. The animosity between the two of them was going to give you a permanent migraine if you couldn’t figure out a way to help them get along.

Coran said, “The particle barrier won’t hold Sendak’s ion cannon forever. The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last.”

“Panic now?” Hunk asked in desperation.

Shiro shook his head. “No. We’ve just got to figure out our plan of action, and figure it out quickly.”

Lance spoke decisively. “I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day.”

Hunk nodded vehemently. “I second that. Yes. I mean, we tried to find all the Lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn’t do it. We only have three. We can’t form Voltron. I mean, I guess we could form a… snake? Or a worm! To go through that hole, Lance, that you were talking about.”  
  
“Then it’s settled,” declared Lance, even though nothing of the sort had been agreed. “Allura, you ride with me. One of you take the old guy,” he said, motioning at Coran with his thumb.

“We can’t just abandon Arus!” protested Pidge. “The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them.”

“Pidge is right,” you agreed. “We need to try and stop these guys before they can wreak even more havoc on the universe.”

“OK. If we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Earth. We form the snake-worm thingamajig and we… _hisss_ out of here,” Hunk suggested brightly.

Keith scowled at him. It seemed to be his default facial expression whenever anyone except Shiro spoke. “Sendak could destroy the planet, then come after us anyway. Staying is our only option.”

To nobody’s surprise, Lance disagreed with Keith. “Here’s an option: _shut your Quiznak.”_

He used the strange Altean term that Coran had used upon waking up, obviously assuming that it was an Altean curse word. From the horrified expressions on the faces of Coran and Princess Allura, you surmised that this assumption was correct.

Keith stared at him with an expression that had been known throughout the Garrison – thanks to you - as ‘resting Keith face’. In an irritated tone, he said, “I don’t think you’re using that word correctly.”

“What do you know, _Mullet?”_ Lance snarled, which had the immediate effect of escalating their interaction towards the usual alpha-male chest-beating aggression.

“We’re _staying.”_ Keith’s fists were ready to punch Lance in the face.

“Leaving!” insisted Lance, practically headbutting Keith in his agitation.

“Staying!” Pidge interjected.

“Snake!” suggested Hunk.

“GUYS, STOP!” you yelled. Everyone turned to stare at you, mouths agape at the volume with which you’d just effectively silenced everyone. You could have given Commander Iverson a run for his money.

Shiro gave you a grateful smile. Turning to the Alteans, he said, “Princess Allura, these are your Lions. You’ve dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we’re facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?”

The princess hesitated. “I… I… I don’t know.”  
  
Coran suggested that she speak to her father, advising her that the King had known that there was a chance that he would never see her again prior to Zarkon’s previous attack, and so had stored his memories in the Castle’s Memory Chamber.

Allura hurried to the Memory Chamber, returning to the Command Room a short time later. You noticed that she had abandoned her flowing gown in favour of a more practical space suit. When she spoke, her voice was firm. “You Paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe’s only hope. _We_ are the universe’s only hope.”

Shiro nodded. “We’re with you, Princess.”

Following Allura, you headed into what you assumed was the armoury. You stared at the Paladin armour contained in the pods before you.

“Cool!” Lance cried.

Shiro nodded approvingly. “Outstanding.”  
  
“Nice,” Keith said, a soft smile on his face.

You didn’t say anything, continuing to stare in wonderment at the soft dove-grey accents of your suit.

“Oh, neat!” cried Pidge excitedly.

Hunk stared at his armour, doubtfully comparing his body with that of his suit. It was obvious that the suits were designed to be rather… form-fitting. “Hmm… mmm… hmm.”

You heard Coran stage-whisper, “Princess, are you sure about this? They aren’t exactly the best and brightest the universe has to offer.”  
  
“No, but they’re all we’ve got,” she muttered back.

“Everyone, it’s time to suit up!” Shiro declared.

By some miracle of alien technology, the Paladin suits fit everybody perfectly, even Hunk. You felt Keith’s eyes rake over you appreciatively, the suit accentuating your curves, but he quickly averted his gaze with a blush when you glanced towards him. However, a smirk appeared on his face when he realised that you had been staring at him just as blatantly.

Once everyone was in their armour, Allura handed you all a strange looking horseshoe-shaped device. “The Bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes a distinct shape for each Paladin,” she explained.

Hunk’s Bayard became a large cannon; Lance suddenly held a rifle; Keith’s turned into a katana; and you found yourself holding a long staff.

Pidge activated the Green Bayard, which became a small grappling hook with a knife head.

“Aw, you got a cute little Bayard,” Lance mocked. Pidge aimed it at Lance and hit him, electrocuting him, to Keith’s immense delight.

“Yeah, it is pretty cute,” Pidge beamed. You giggled, causing Lance to glance at you with a look of absolute betrayal on his face.

Allura gave Shiro an apologetic look. “Shiro, I’m afraid your Bayard was lost with its Paladin.”  
  
“I guess I’ll just have to make do,” he replied.

The team gathered at the Castle Bridge. “You’ll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak’s ship,” Allura instructed.  
  
Keith looked doubtful. “That’s a… pretty big ship. How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?”  
  
“Oh, it’s not a matter of _‘we’_ ,” said Pidge. “It’s a matter of _‘you’_.”  
  
Hunk nodded. “Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you and Y/N will be able to _feel its presence_ and track it down.”  
  
“Yeah,” said Lance. “You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?”  
  
Keith stared at him. “Yeah. You made fun of me for that.”  
  
“And I’m proud of that, but it turns out it’s exactly like that mumbo-jumbo.”

“Keith, Y/N, remember – the Red Lion is _extremely_ temperamental. You’ll have to _earn_ its respect,” Allura reminded you.  
  
“All right. Here’s our plan of attack.” Everyone huddled around Shiro to hear the team leader’s orders.

**************************************

“The Galra Empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lion, but they don’t know we have the Green Lion, too,” Shiro said as the Lions headed towards the Galra warship. “Hunk, Lance, you’ll act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up.”

The two boys approached the Galra with their Lions. Pidge flew to the underside of the warship in the Green Lion, and managed to remain undetected.

“Attention, Galra ship,” Lance’s voice sounded over the intercom. “Do not fire. We’re surrendering our Lions.”

The transmission ended, and the team heard his voice in their helmets. “Hope this works.”

“While Sendak is distracted, the rest of us will sneak onto the ship in the Green Lion. Keith, Y/N and I will find the Red Lion while Pidge guards our exit,” Shiro instructed. “Hunk, Lance, find some way to take down that ion cannon.”

Pidge docked the Green Lion underneath the warship, and managed to cut a hole in the warship’s hull. You and the others crept inside undetected.

You heard Lance’s voice through your helmet. “Pidge, what’s your ETA?”

“We’re in,” the Green Paladin confirmed.

Lance and Hunk flew their Lions away from the Galra ship, causing them to be chased by Galra fighter jets.

Suddenly, Shiro wore a look of recognition on his face. “I’ve been here before. After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos, they brought us here.”  
  
“So that means your other crew members… they might be held captive here!” Pidge sounded excited. “We’ve got to rescue them!”  
  
Shiro shook his head. “Pidge, we don’t have time. We have to get the Red Lion and get back to Arus.”  
  
“But we can’t just leave prisoners here!” Pidge protested.

Shiro’s voice was sympathetic. “Look, no one understands that more than me, but in war, we have to make hard choices. Now, let’s get moving.”  
  
“No! Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones on the Kerberos mission with you.” Pidge’s voice was filled with anguish, and you felt something click in your mind as you looked more closely at the youngest Paladin.

“Commander Holt is your father?” Shiro looked puzzled.

“Yes. I’ve been searching everywhere for him and my brother. And I’m not going to give up looking when I’m this close. I won’t!” Pidge insisted.

Shiro seemed impressed by the Green Paladin’s determination. “I’m coming with you.”  
  
“What?” Keith cried.

“I remember where the prisoners are held. Keith, Y/N, go find the Red Lion.”  
  
“By ourselves?” you asked with concern.

“Minor change of plans,” Shiro apologised. He gave you both a soft smile of reassurance. “You’ll be fine. Just remember, patience yields focus.”

A door opened nearby.

“So… Run!” Shiro yelled as he and Pidge ran off.

You and Keith raced along a corridor, stopping when you came to an intersecting one.

“Great. Now which way?” asked Keith. He stared at a Galra emblem until you heard footsteps from approaching sentries, and you pulled him away, the two of you once again running along the corridor.

Unfortunately, after running through the warship for several minutes, you found yourselves staring at the same Galra emblem as before.  
  
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Keith hissed with annoyance.

You recalled Shiro’s instructions to you. “Patience… yields focus…”

You closed your eyes and took a breath to calm yourself, turning your focus inwards. After a few seconds, you sensed the Red Lion. “Gotcha!” you whispered triumphantly.

Without thinking, you grabbed Keith’s hand and led him in the direction that you felt the Lion. You found yourselves in the hangar of the warship, staring up at the Red Lion encased in its force field.  
  
Keith approached it. “Bingo. Let’s get out of here. Open up.”

Nothing happened.

He placed his hand on the force field. “It’s me. Keith. Your buddy.”

Still nothing. “Oh, yeah, Y/N’s here too.”

“Gee, thanks,” you said dryly. “Nothing like being an afterthought to make a girl feel special.”

The Red Lion continued to ignore the presence of both of you.  
  
Grinding his teeth in frustration, he tried once again. “It’s me! Keeeeeeeiiiiiith, your… I. AM. YOUR. PALADIN!”  
  
Despite his yelling, the Red Lion remained unmoved.

‘Maybe if you tried being nice to it?’ you suggested in an overly sweet tone.

Keith started knocking on the force field. ‘You want to have a go, sweetheart? Be my guest!’

“Hey, there, big guy,” you crooned in a soothing tone. “We’re in a bit of a hurry, so if you could just go ahead and drop that force field so we could get you out of here, we would really appreciate it.”

Apparently the Red Lion didn’t care for good manners either. It remained solidly behind its force field.

Keith started yelling at it again, which only caught the attention of passing Galra sentries. They entered the hangar and started firing their laser guns at both of you. You and Keith blocked them with your shields, while he berated the Lion. “We’re bonding with you! Hey! Come on! We’re connected!”

There was still no reaction from the Lion. You and Keith both activated your Bayards, fighting off the sentries even as you continued to plead with the Red Lion.

“You’re not getting this Lion!” Keith cried, before he was knocked back by a laser blast.

You started to run toward him, anxious to see that he wasn’t hurt, but cried out as one of the Galra grabbed you. Keith’s fury was immediately ignited as the life-bond’s protective streak kicked in. Wincing as he sat up, he snarled, “Get your hands off her!”

Before he could rush to your aid, though, you’d managed to hit the Galra sentry in the head with your staff, causing it to loosen its grip enough for you to escape its grasp and run towards the control panel in the centre of the hangar. ‘Hey, Flyboy, how much do you trust me?’

‘Right now, I’d probably trust Lance if it gave us a shot of getting out of here.’

‘Good. Hang on!’ Before he could ask what you meant, you hit the airlock as hard as you could, sending the sentries out into space. Unfortunately, you were close enough to the airlock that you were also sucked out. You frantically grabbed hold of the edge of the console, trying desperately to pull yourself back inside. “KEITH!”

“Y/N!” Keith’s voice was filled with panic, and his fear echoed in your mind. He inched his way over to you, grabbing your hand and trying to pull you to safety. However, he was hit by a piece of debris and the two of you were tossed into the void.

“Don’t let go, Keith!” you begged desperately.

“I’m not gonna let go, sweetheart.” Keith’s grip on your hand tightened and he pulled you to his chest, wrapping his arms around you tightly as you held onto him for dear life. You could feel his panic escalating as the two of you floated adrift. His next comment was slightly amused, despite the circumstances. “So you finally got to live out your lifelong dream of sending me out of the airlock.”

“Yeah, it’s not as much fun as I thought it would be,” you admitted.

Apparently imminent death was what was required to grab the attention of the Red Lion, as it came and caught the two of you in its mouth before you were lost in space forever. You sensed its acceptance of you as its Paladins, to your immense relief.

“Good kitty,” you praised it as you hopped in the co-pilot’s seat, which was situated directly behind the pilot’s seat. You felt the Red Lion _purring_ in your mind, causing you to grin at Keith.

Keith grinned back as he took his place at the controls. “Let’s roll.”

**************************************

As Keith flew the Red Lion out of the Galra warship to join the others, Hunk used the mouth cannon of the Yellow Lion to fire at the ship’s force field. As it finally broke, he cried happily, “Score one for Hunk!”

The Yellow Lion then slammed into the ion cannon, disfiguring it. The Blue and Green Lions appeared just as you joined Hunk.

“Hey, everyone, sorry we’re late,” you called.

“You guys made it!” Hunk sounded ecstatic.

“Kitty Rose has left the stage!” You got the sense that the Red Lion did not approve of Pidge’s nickname for it.

“Let’s get the heck out of here!” Lance suggested. For once, Keith didn’t seem inclined to disagree with him.

“I hope I stopped that cannon,” Hunk fretted. “I could barely make a dent in it!”

The team didn’t feel like sticking around to find out, instead heading back to Arus as quickly as possible.

**************************************

The four reclaimed Lions were in a chamber within the Castle, forming a ring around Shiro. They began to glow softly then roared simultaneously, and a door activated to reveal the Black Lion. It was significantly larger than the others, and was clearly the Lion designed for the leader of the team.

The Black Lion finally awoke, roaring as it stood. It had accepted Shiro as its new Paladin, to the relief of everyone watching.

Your relief was short-lived, however, as the Castle’s alarms commenced blaring loudly. Sendak’s warship had arrived.

“Oh, quiznak!” cried Coran.

“Sendak is entering the Arusian atmosphere,” declared Allura. “We need Voltron now!”

Shiro entered the Black Lion, and all five Lions launched from the Castle, remaining within the safety of the particle barrier. This proved to be a good idea, as it appeared that the Galra had managed to repair the ion cannon. It blasted the barrier repeatedly.

“Man, those Galra guys repair things fast,” Hunk observed.

“The barrier gets weaker with every blast,” Coran fretted. “Once that shield goes down, the Castle will be defenceless!”

“I can give you cover with the Castle defences for a while, but you have to form Voltron now or we’ll all be destroyed!” Princess Allura cried.

“Jeez, no pressure,” muttered Hunk.

As the ion cannon fired again, Shiro spoke. “Listen up, Team Voltron! The only way to succeed is to give it all you’ve got!”  
  
Everyone nodded, forgetting that Shiro was unable to hear this response from his Lion. After everyone sheepishly verbalised their agreement, they pushed their Lions forward and exited the particle barrier. The Galra fighter jets maintained heavy fire the entire time.

“Let’s do this!” cried Shiro.

“Uh, how?” Lance sounded puzzled.

“Good question. Does anyone have any ideas of how to form Voltron?” you asked.  
  
“I don’t see a ‘Combine Into Giant Robot’ button anywhere on my dashboard,” Hunk advised sadly.

“This is insane! Can’t they just cease fire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is it too much to ask?” Pidge demanded as the Galra fighter jets continued to bombard you with their attacks. In frustration, the Green Lion caught one of the fighter jets in its mouth, flinging it into another fighter and causing both to explode.

“We’ve got to do something,” Keith gritted out through his teeth, as he used the tail cannon of the Red Lion to blast another two Galra jets.

“Combine!” Hunk urged as he slammed the Yellow Lion into the Red Lion. This only had the effect of knocking it over.

“Hey!” you yelled at him in outrage.  
  
“OK, that didn’t work,” Hunk apologised. The Yellow Lion hung its head in shame.

“Quickly, Paladins!” Allura urged. “Our energy levels are getting low!”  
  
“Maybe if we fly in formation, we’ll just combine,” Shiro surmised. “Take off on my cue. One, two, three, Voltron!”  
  
All five Lions took flight.

“Here we go!” Keith cried.

“Come on, come on!” Lance begged, as the Lions remained a considerable distance apart.

“Nothing’s happening.” Shiro’s voice held the disappointment everyone felt.

“Hey, w-wait, wait, wait! I feel something!” Lance cried in excitement.

“I do, too,” Hunk agreed. “I feel it. It’s like we’re all being pulled in the same direction!”  
  
“Uh, guys, I think I know why,” you murmured. “Look up.”

It appeared that the Lions had been caught in the Galra warship’s tractor beam.

“What the _cheese?”_ Lance swore.

“Sendak’s ship is sucking us in like a black hole!” Pidge cried.

“Oh, no!” Shiro said.

“I-I don’t care what you say, Shiro. I’m panicking now!” Hunk immediately commenced screaming.

“It can’t end here!” declared Pidge.

“This is it!” Lance shrieked.

Keith’s closed his eyes as he declared solemnly, “It’s been an honour flying with you boys.”

“Oh, no!” Hunk cried.

_‘No!’_ Your expression grew steely. _‘I am NOT dying here today! Not like this!’_

You drew a deep breath and spoke firmly to your team-mates, sounding much stronger than you currently felt. “No! We can do this! We have to believe in ourselves. We can’t give up. We are the universe’s only hope. Everyone is relying on us. We can’t fail! We _won’t_ fail! If we work together, we’ll win together!”

You felt Keith swell with pride at your words, and Shiro and the others likewise appeared emboldened by your speech. You had motivated them to believe in themselves as a team. In unison, everyone cried, “Yeah!”

The Lions suddenly glowed, united as were their Paladins, and managed to break free from the warship’s tractor beam. Flying in formation, they merged to form Voltron. The Black Lion became the body of the giant robot; the Red and Green Lions formed Voltron’s arms; and the Blue and Yellow Lions became the legs.

Voltron had formed in the nick of time. Just as the ion cannon appeared to be about to destroy the Castle, the robot diverted the blast with a single punch.

“I can’t believe it!” Keith cried in astonishment.

Pidge squealed, “We formed Voltron!”

“I’m a leg!” came Hunk’s gleeful cry.

“How are we doing this?” Lance demanded.

“I don’t know, but let’s get that cannon!” Shiro ordered.

Voltron tore the ion cannon from the hull of the warship, flinging it towards Arus. The Red Lion punched through the hull of the ship, and Keith used the Lion’s mouth cannon to blast the inside of the warship, causing it to nearly be split in two. The Green Lion repeated the action, and Shiro then sent Voltron flying through the warships engines. The ship exploded, and Voltron returned to the surface of Arus as debris rained down.

Allura and Coran greeted all of you as the Lions landed outside the Castle. “Good work, Paladins!” the princess congratulated all of you as you descended from the Lions.

“Thanks, pretty lady,” Lance grinned at her.

Shiro, sounding stunned, said, “We did it.”

“Heck yeah, we did.” Keith winked at you as he removed his helmet, causing you to blush with confusion at his suddenly friendly demeanour.

“How did we do it?” Shiro asked curiously.  
  
Hunk shrugged. “I was just, like, screaming the whole time. Maybe that did it.”

Keith looked at you with something akin to respect. _‘YOU did that, you know, Y/N. You got us all to work together.’_

_‘It was all of us,’_ you disagreed, feeling embarrassed at the young man’s praise. _‘We would have figured it out eventually.’_

Pidge looked dejected at failing to find either missing family member. Shiro placed a hand on the tiny Paladin’s shoulder. “We’re not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father. Wherever they are, I know they’d be proud of you.”

Pidge smiled at the reassurance from the team leader.

“We won the battle, but the war has only just begun,” Allura reminded everyone. “Zarkon will not stop until he gets these Lions.”

“Good thing you Paladins know what you’re doing, because you’re going to have to form Voltron again and again,” Coran advised you happily.

“Totally,” agreed Hunk, before appearing to realise what Coran had just said. “Wait, _what?”_

Lance grimaced. “We barely survived forming Voltron this one time.”  
  
“And you only had to fight one ship,” Coran pointed out with glee. “Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It’s not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe.”

Everyone seemed surprised at the title that he had bestowed upon you. You all turned to stare at the massive Lions, who seemed to be gazing back at all of you with approval.

Shiro smiled softly. “Defenders of the Universe, huh? That’s got a nice ring to it.”

All of you smiled at him in agreement, before smiling up at the Lions. It didn’t sound bad at all.


	5. You Can't Spell 'Team' Without 'Me'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Allura puts the Paladins through training, advising that you need to cooperate in order to learn to form Voltron. Especially Lance and Keith. You struggle to find a way to get the two of them to work together without killing each other – and you along with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter relates to Series 1, Episode 2: “Some Assembly Required”

You were rudely interrupted from your slumber by the loud blare of an alarm. With an undignified shriek, you fell out of your bunk in a tangle of blankets. You tried to extricate yourself from your bedcovers as the door to your sleep chambers opened automatically. Allura’s voice sounded over the Castle’s intercom.

“Everybody up! Zarkon is attacking!”

Panicking, you raced barefoot to the control room, still in the clothes you slept in. Allura’s voice sounded again, more urgent this time.

“The Castle is about to be destroyed!”

Pidge joined you on the way to the control room, eyes still half-closed with sleep, as Allura continued her urgent cries. Shiro, Hunk and Keith joined the pair of you as you raced down the corridor. Shiro was dressed in his Paladin outfit, but Hunk was still in his pyjamas and Keith had obviously dressed in extreme haste as his t-shirt was inside-out. His black hair stuck out in all directions, and for some reason your fingers itched to push his unruly locks out of his face.

_‘What the heck are you almost wearing?’_ Keith’s thought was tinged with disapproval.

You looked down at your singlet and boyleg shorts. _‘I always wear this to bed. What’s wrong with it?’_

_‘Nothing,’_ came the huffy response. Keith refused to look at you, not wanting to analyse exactly why he found the sight of you with sleep-mussed hair and minimal clothing so incredibly enticing, or that the thought of the others seeing you dressed that way filled him with an almost possessive anger.

Allura’s voice urged you to hurry. “Go, go, go! We need Voltron now! Hurry! We can’t survive much longer!”

“You’ve got to sell it a little bit more,” you heard Coran advise the princess. He cleared his throat, and continued in a completely unconvincing tone of voice. “Oh, no! Allura is dead! Aw, it’s horrible! Her head fell off! Wait! What? Her severed head is trying to speak to me! What is it, Allura’s head? What are your final words?”

Allura gave Coran a look as the group finally reached the bridge. “Coran.”  
  
He continued wailing melodramatically. “Oh, yes, Princess, I’m listening.”  
  
“It’s over.” She glared at all of you as you entered the Castle’s control room.

Coran dramatically held a hand to his forehead. “Oh, I know! If only Voltron had been formed on time!”

Shiro frowned at the pair of Alteans. “I guess this isn’t an actual attack.”  
  
“And it’s a good thing it wasn’t because it took you… Coran?” The princess looked to her advisor.

“Seventy-five degrees.” The instrument in his hands beeped, and he frowned. “Oh, sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer.”

Allura stood in front of you, looking at all of you with disapproval. “However long it was, it was too long. You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon! Look at you! Only Shiro is in uniform. Keith, Y/N, Pidge, Hunk, where are your Bayards? And where is Lance?”

As if summoned, Lance shuffled into the common room sleepily, wrapped in a blue dressing gown and holding a mug of space-caf in one hand. You giggled when you noticed his fluffy Blue Lion slippers. With a yawn, he muttered, “Good morning everybody. What’s going on?”

“Coran and I have been up for hours getting the Castle back in order,” Allura informed him snippily. “We had to run a test on the alarms, and we decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed.”

“Hey!” Hunk protested. “You got to sleep for ten thousand years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I’ve flown through space, fought some evil alien named Zarkon, eaten goo in some weird castle… That’s a lot to process in, uh… I don’t know. What day is it today?”  
  
“It’s the third quintant of the Spicolian movement,” Coran replied, as if the answer should have been obvious. “Hump day!”  
  
Hunk nodded solemnly. “It’s a lot to process.”

Allura glanced at all of you, her expression serious. “You must understand the stakes of our mission. Over the last ten thousand years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations.”

She showed you the position of the distress signals on the star map. A significant portion of the map was red, indicating those systems that had been attacked by the Galra.

“So, we have to assume that Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe. Earth is here.” The map spun to show Earth, far too many light years away. “An attack on your planet is inevitable.”

“Oh, no.” Hunk sounded crestfallen.

“Exactly,” Allura said. “Our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting the Castle ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin fighting Zarkon.”  
  
Shiro glanced at everyone. “The princess is right. Let’s get to our Lions and start training.”  
  
“Wait,” objected Pidge. “But I want to talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship.”

“Ah, negative, Number Six!” Coran cried. Pidge looked at him quizzically, glaring at him as he explained, “I have you ranked by height, okay? The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow.”  
  
“That’s right,” Allura confirmed. “Now, get to your Lions.”

**************************************

All of you raced to the loading bays and headed to your Lions. You whooped with delight as you used what was basically a flying fox to glide down towards the speeder which took you to the Red Lion. Keith’s feelings closely echoed your own, his exhilaration obvious. You both boarded Red and joined the others.

It was only after you had all left the Castle that you realised that one of the team was missing.

“Um, where’s Hunk?” you wondered, noting that the Yellow Lion was yet to make an appearance.

“Should someone go in after him?” Lance asked.

Eventually, Hunk’s slightly out of breath voice sounded over the helmet comms as he finally caught up to you. “Hi, guys. Sorry, everybody. Seriously, though, can’t they park these things, like, a little closer to the bridge?”

“Alright, guys,” Shiro said. “Let’s just fly in tight formation until we’re totally in sync.”  
  
Allura’s voice was commanding. “Feel the bond with your Lions and your fellow pilots until you become one unit and you form Voltron!”  
  
“Yeah!” everyone cried with excitement.

Nothing happened.

“Yeah!”

Again nothing.

“Yeah!” Slightly less excitement.

Still nothing.

“Yay.” The entire team was now distinctly lacking in enthusiasm.

“Whoo.” Hunk’s voice continued. “Am I the only one who’s still pretending to be excited?”

“Clearly, this isn’t working,” Shiro muttered with frustration. “Let’s set down for a bit.”

You and Keith shared a look, both thinking the same thing. “Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up,” you ventured.

“What do you mean?” Shiro sounded curious.

“We mean, let’s try literally building Voltron, like, stacking on top of each other,” Keith explained.

Lance snorted. “Like a cheerleader pyramid?”

You knew your friend was annoyed that he hadn’t suggested it first.

“You got a better idea?” Keith retorted.

“It’s worth a try,” Shiro said, obviously trying to prevent yet another argument between the two young men. Everyone moved their Lions into position. “Hunk, what are you doing?”  
  
The Yellow Lion had climbed on top of the other Lions.

“What do you mean?” asked the Yellow Paladin.

Shiro spoke with obvious patience. “You’re supposed to be the leg over there.”

“What?” Hunk sounded surprised. “No. No, no, no. I’m pretty sure that when we did it last time, I was the head. Right?”  
  
“You yelled, ‘I’m a leg’!” Lance reminded him.

“Yeah, I was yelling a lot of things.”  
  
“Shiro’s the head,” you sighed.

Hunk’s voice was laced with disappointment. “All the time?”

“Let’s just try it my way for now,” Shiro said gently.

“Okay, but next time I call head,” Hunk replied, a little sulkily.

The other Paladins followed Shiro’s instructions in their attempts to reform Voltron.

“Okay. Arms and legs… and I’ll form the head.” The Black Lion climbed atop the pyramid, the other Lions wobbling unsteadily. “Feel the bonds with your Lions. Now, channel your energy into forming Voltron. Focus. _Focus.”_  
  
Once again, a complete lack of anything happening.

“Is everyone bonding and focusing?” Shiro queried.

“Why was this so much easier before?” Lance whined.

With a heavy sigh, Shiro suggested the team take a break.

“Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help.” Allura’s voice sounded far too cheerful for your liking. “Yesterday, you weren’t able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle.”

“Yeah,” Pidge responded.

“I’m listening,” said Lance.

“You’re right,” Shiro agreed.

“Yeah, I guess.” Keith sounded far from convinced.

“Perfect. Because I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle’s defences. This should help!”

You all screamed in unison as the Castle started firing at you.

“Okay, whoa, whoa!” Lance screeched.

“Allura, what are you _doing?”_ you demanded.

“Running a diagnostic test on the Castle defences and inspiring you!” she responded brightly. “I believe in you, Paladins! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!”

“Forget this! I’m heading back to the Castle!” Lance yelled. He turned the Blue Lion back towards the Castle, and let out a startled yelp when he crashed into the Castle’s particle barrier.

“Please stop!” Hunk begged. “Please! Have mercy on us!”  
  
“You think Zarkon is going to have mercy on you?” Allura mocked. “He’s probably on his way right now to destroy us all!”

**[Auto-lock-on engaged]** the Castle computer advised.

_Great._ You might not need to worry about Zarkon killing you, because it seemed like Allura was going to do the job for him.

**************************************

You flopped down on the couch with a groan, not noticing or caring that you were next to Keith, who sat rather stiffly at you unexpectedly choosing to voluntarily be in such close proximity to him. Lance collapsed on the couch opposite, and Hunk and Pidge perched themselves on the edge of their seats.

“You did it! You formed Voltron!” Allura congratulated you all as she joined you.

“No,” Keith informed her somewhat shortly. “The shooting stopped and the particle barrier shut down, so we just flew in.”

“What?” the princess cried in dismay.

“Oh, right. Uh, sorry, Princess,” Coran apologised. “I had to turn off the Castle defences to test the fire suppressors.”

“What are you guys doing in here?” Shiro demanded, walking into the lounge and noting all of you sitting down. “We’re not taking a break.”  
  
“Shiro’s right. You should be training,” Allura insisted.

“We’ve _been_ training,” Hunk moaned. “When are we going back to Earth?”  
  
“I’m not going back until I find my family,” Pidge declared.

“Guys, there won’t _be_ an Earth if we don’t figure out how to fight Zarkon,” Shiro said.

“How are we going to fight?” Lance asked. “We can’t even figure out how to form Voltron.”

“Well, I’m not surprised,” replied Coran. “You know, the original Paladins fought hundreds of battles together, side-by-side. They were like a pack of yalmors linked at the ears.”  
  
You gave a grimace of disgust. “Wow. Yeah, that’s definitely not us.”

“During the last attack, your survival instincts forced you to work as a team, but that will only get you so far,” Coran said. “You’ll have to become a real team to have any chance of forming Voltron and then beating Zarkon next time. You should try working out on the training deck.”

Hunk blinked. “There’s a training deck?”

**************************************

The six of you stood in a circle on the training deck, still dressed in your Paladin uniforms, while Coran observed you from above. “Okay, listen up guys. The Paladin code demands you put your team members’ safety above your own. A swarm of drones is about to attack.”

“Huh?” Keith said.

“It’s up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team.”  
  
 _‘Oh, great,’_ you thought.

_‘Worried Lover-Boy isn’t up to the task?’_ Keith’s thought mocked. His intense jealousy of your friendship with the Blue Paladin once again reared its ugly head.

_‘No, I’m worried that YOU are going to let him fail on purpose,’_ you retorted.

Before another snarky thought could be sent your way, several drones hovered above you.

“Wait, wait, wait. What’s going on?” Hunk gasped, as a shield appeared on his arm. “Whoa. Did you guys get one of these?”

Shiro set himself into a fighting stance. “Get ready.”

Hunk yelled as he ducked, causing Pidge to be hit by a blast from the drone, before disappearing with a yelp through the sudden hole that appeared in the floor beneath their feet. The drones were firing rapidly, and everyone tried desperately to shield themselves from the shots.

“Protect your team-mates or no one will be there to protect you!” Coran instructed.

Hunk yelled again after being struck himself, then disappeared as he fell through the floor.

“Time to increase intensity.” Why did the Alteans always sound delighted when delivering bad news?

You found yourself forming a circle with Keith, Lance and Shiro as the four of you desperately tried to protect yourselves as well as each other from the onslaught of the drones.

“You keeping up over there, Keith?” Lance sneered.

“Just concentrate on keeping me safe,” the Red Paladin replied.

“Me?” Lance scoffed. “I own this drill. _You’re_ the one who needs to concentrate.”

Immediately, your friend let out a shrill scream as his shield was blasted by a drone. Keith’s pained yell followed immediately after as he narrowly avoided being hit.

“Will you two stop it with the macho chest-beating and start actually looking after the rest of us?” you snarled, shoving Keith behind you as you blocked another shot with your shield.

_‘Thanks, sweetheart,’_ Keith thought gratefully.

_‘Zip it, Flyboy,’_ you threw back as you glared at him. Your lack of concentration caused you to get hit by a drone, and you too fell through the floor of the training deck.

You heard Shiro’s muffled yelling at the two boys, then a few seconds later it was Game Over.

**************************************

Lance was standing in the middle of the room, staring around him in confusion.

“To form Voltron, you must trust in each other,” Coran stated. “This ancient Paladin maze will teach you that trust. Your team-mate can see the walls, but you cannot. So, listen carefully. If you touch the walls, you’ll get a slight shock.”

Lance looked up at the observation deck with suspicion. “Wait. Who’s guiding me through?”   
  
“Take two steps forward.” Keith’s voice sounded over the intercom. You stood at his shoulder, watching to see how this interaction would play out. Shiro and the others were also watching intently.

Lance groaned. “Oh, no! Not Keith! Why does _he_ get to be the man on the mic?”

“Like I said,” Keith continued as if Lance hadn’t interrupted him. “Take two steps forward, turn right, and take three steps in that direction.”  
  
Lance immediately turned right, then stepped forward. The walls of the maze crackled with electricity. The agonised screech that erupted from his mouth indicated that it felt like more than just the ‘slight shock’ that Coran had described.

“You did that on purpose!” yelled Lance.

“You’re not listening.” Keith sounded remarkably patient, which was decidedly un-Keith.

“He never listens,” you told Keith matter-of-factly. “Why do you think I can’t fly with him?”

“I’m surprised he’s survived this long.”

“You said, ‘Turn right’,” Lance declared.

“But _before_ that, I said, ‘Take two steps forward’,” Keith reminded him.

Once again, Lance only heard part of the instructions. “Two steps…”

Electricity crackled once again.

Lance stamped his foot. “We’re switching places right now!”

**************************************

“You’ll never be able to form Voltron unless each of you has a strong bond with his Lion,” Coran advised.

“No problem,” Lance boasted. “Me and Blue are best buds for life, for real.”  
  
“Perfect! Then you won’t have any issues with this exercise. Everyone, put your Lions into a nosedive,” the Altean instructed.

All five Lions started growling.

“This is an expert-level drill that you really shouldn’t attempt until you’ve been flying for years, but, uh, we’re in a bit of a rush, so here we go. Activating training helmets!”

You all gasped as the visors in your helmets blacked out, completely blocking your vision.

“Coran, what’s happening? I can’t see!” Lance’s panicked voice sounded over the comms.

“You must learn to see through your Lions’ eyes. The goal is to pull up right before you crash into the ground. Feel what the Lion feels!”

Hunk whimpered, “Mine feels scared!”

“You still going, Keith?” Lance taunted.

You felt the usual flicker of irritation through the life-bond. “You know it. You?”

“Going? I’m speeding up!”

“Oh yeah?” You felt Keith increase the speed of the Red Lion.

“What are you doing?” you cried in alarm. “If he said he was going to jump off a cliff, would you do it too?”

“No, I’d push him off! Shut up and trust me, sweetheart!”

“Not bloody likely, Flyboy!”

“Must be getting close,” Lance said.

“Must be.” Keith’s determination not to be outdone by the Blue Paladin was going to be the death of you. Both of you, if he wasn’t careful.

“Lance, knock it off! Stop goading him!” you scolded. “And Keith, for the love of God, just ignore him and concentrate on keeping Red in one piece!”

“You getting scared?” Lance continued to taunt your partner, completely ignoring your warning.

“I’m not scared!” Keith insisted, speeding up even more.

“You know, this is exactly the sort of stuff that got you kicked out of the Garrison,” you reminded him.

“I can outfly this loser any day.”

You had a sudden sense that the ground was closing in fast, and tried to gain Keith’s attention. “Pull up!’

“Not yet!”

“We’re going to crash, you idiot! Pull up _now!”_ Why, of all times, did Keith pick this moment not to trust your instincts?

Suddenly, the Red Lion crashed into the ground, causing you to tumble to the floor painfully, the breath knocked out of you. You heard another crash, and assumed that Lance had likewise crashed his Lion.

“Ow,” Keith winced. He shrugged at you apologetically, having the grace to look slightly ashamed as you glared at him murderously from your position at his feet.

“I win,” Lance declared with a groan.

“I seriously hate both of you right now,” you muttered.

**************************************

The six of you were sitting in a circle, wearing what Lance had dubbed ‘alien mind-meld thingamajigs’ on your heads.

“Now, the most important part of Paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron. Everything else has to fade away. This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron. So, relax and open your mind. No walls, no secrets between Paladins.”

You tried to listen to Coran’s instructions as you closed your eyes and concentrated as he continued talking. You saw that Keith brought up the image of his desert shack; Lance had immediately thought of his family; Hunk, unsurprisingly, had food on his mind; Shiro’s mind went to the Garrison; and your thoughts had turned initially to James Griffin, before almost instantly being replaced by a pair of purple-grey eyes. You shook your head in confusion, concentrating on bringing Griffin’s face back in your mind with an irritated huff. You felt Keith’s hurt and jealousy through the life-bond as you thought of the other boy instead of him, and did your best to ignore it.

Only Pidge seemed to be having difficulty successfully producing an image, the picture flickering as the youngster struggled to hold onto a coherent thought.

Coran’s voice was impatient. “Come on, everyone, clear everything. Now, focus on forming your Lion.”

You and Keith immediately produced the image of Red, and the others managed to also form their Lions.

“Bring your Lions together and form Voltron,” Coran instructed. “Keep your minds open, work together.”

Slowly, painfully, the Lions were merging together. Voltron had nearly taken shape. “Good! Keep focusing! Only one to go!”

Suddenly, an image of a young girl popped into your head.

“Pidge, stop thinking of your girlfriend!” Keith hissed.  
  
“I wasn’t!” Pidge protested. “Hunk was rooting around in my head!”  
  
“I thought we were open. You can look in my head hole,” Hunk offered, while Pidge glared at him mutinously.

“Everyone has to be able to look in everyone’s head holes!” Coran cried irritably. “Clear your minds! Good! Almost there. Now, form Voltron. Yes!”

The image faltered and then immediately vanished.

“Pidge!” Lance sounded outraged at the team’s failure.

“I’m done with this!” Pidge grunted, throwing the circlet off in frustration. “Look, I don’t like everyone grubbing around in my head!”  
  
“Oh, come on, Pidge, we’re finally starting to get the hang of this.” You rubbed the tiny Paladin’s back soothingly, trying to steady their nerves.

“I’m just… I’m just tired, okay?” Pidge sounded defeated.

“Okay,” Shiro nodded. “Let’s take a break.”  
  
“You _have_ been working hard,” Coran admitted. “Maybe it’s time to relax a little.”

He handed everyone what looked like a juice box, which were gratefully accepted by all of you. Whatever it was tasted sweet and refreshing, and you felt yourself starting to relax. The others were similarly enjoying their drinks. Shiro gave you a small grin as he sipped his juice, sitting cross-legged on the floor like a six-year-old.

Just then, Allura walked into the room, looking at all of you sternly. “What are you doing lying around? You’re supposed to be training!”  
  
“Just resting a bit. You know, you can’t push too hard.” Coran sounded slightly sheepish as he explained to the princess.

“What do you mean, ‘can’t push too hard’? Get up, you lazy lumps! It’s time you faced the Gladiator!”

Allura was proving to be the most difficult taskmaster you had ever faced.

**************************************

“In order to defeat the Gladiator, all Paladins must fight as one,” Coran’s voice sounded over the comms.

“Hmm?” Hunk muttered absentmindedly. He was hit by the large robot which had dropped from the ceiling above, and yelped. “Whoa!”

Keith grunted as he was hit from behind. You winced as you registered that it had stung him more than he wanted to admit. Curse this stupid life-bond making you feel things that you didn’t really want to feel.

Hunk screamed again as the robot continued to attack, before collapsing on the floor as it hit him in the chest with its weapon, shocking him with an electric charge. Pidge and Lance were likewise dispatched in quick succession.

You were also struck, your Bayard staff not moving fast enough to stop the blow, and suddenly you understood just how much pain the others had been in. This thing was going to rip you all to shreds at this rate.

The gladiator seemed to increase its pace, forcing all of you to react out of sheer desperation. When it attacked Pidge, Hunk retaliated. Then it went after Lance, so you stepped up your attack. It turned on you next, causing both Keith and Lance to snarl with rage as they raced to protect you.

Shiro gasped, seeming to freeze as the robot turned its attention to him. Just as the gladiator appeared to be about to strike a deadly blow, it was stopped by Keith’s katana.

“Shiro, are you okay?” Keith asked urgently. You huffed. He hadn’t asked if _you_ were okay. Although he _did_ prevent you from being sliced in two, so you supposed that had to count for something.

Allura looked less than pleased as she ceased the training exercise. “That combat simulator was set at a level fit for an Altean child! You’re not even close to working as a team, let alone ready to face Zarkon!”

She stalked out of the training room, leaving all of you feeling very sore and sorry for yourselves.

**************************************

Coran smiled as the six of you sat down at the dining table. “Ahoy, young Paladins! I’ve whipped up a big batch of focusing food. After this meal, you’ll be forming Voltron six times a movement, and twice on the astral conflux!”

You were glad that at least _he_ seemed confident of your abilities. It felt like nothing you did was going to be good enough for the Altean princess.

Shiro sniffed the meal appreciatively. “Smells great, Coran. Thanks.”

All at once, the team gasped in unison as cuffs were fastened about your wrists, effectively chaining the six of you together. You found yourself linked to Keith, with Lance chained to his other wrist. You wondered whether that had been done on purpose.

“Hold the phone!” Lance cried in an outraged tone.

“I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you’re still struggling to work as a team,” Coran announced pompously. “So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day.”

You narrowed your eyes at the ginger-haired Altean. “Coran, I want you to think about what you’re doing.”

Coran ignored you as he continued cheerfully. “This one’s a classic. You get to feed each other, like a pack of yalmors!”

“Ow!” groaned Hunk, as he was smacked in the face by Lance as he attempted to spoon food goo into his mouth.

“Sorry,” the Blue Paladin apologised as he reached to brush some goo off Hunk. His expression turned into a grimace as he noticed that his movement had caused him to pull Keith towards him, making the latter’s hand smoosh into his plate. “Ew! Oh, nice. You defiled my food goo!”

“It’s your fault! This is ridiculous.” Keith tried to cross his arms across his chest, which only resulted in causing him to be sandwiched between you and Lance. His expression grew even sulkier, if such a thing was possible.

“Do Earthlings ever stop complaining?” Princess Allura looked at all of you with an extremely disgruntled expression on her pretty face.

“Can’t you just give us a break?” Shiro demanded. “Everyone’s been working really hard today.”

“Yeah!” Keith seconded. “We’re not some prisoners for you to toy with, like… like…”

“Like a bunch of toy prisoners!” Lance supplied helpfully.

“Yes! Thank you, Lance!” Keith and Lance threw triumphant grins at the Altean girl, obviously believing that they had got the better of her. You rolled your eyes.

“You do not yell at the Princess!” Coran yelled at the two of them. That got your hackles rising. Nobody yelled at your boys but Shiro. And possibly yourself.

“Oh, the princess of what?” Pidge sneered. “We’re the only ones out here and she’s no princess of ours!”

Without warning, you were hit in the face with a glob of goo that the princess had flicked from her spoon. She had aimed it at Pidge, but as the Green Paladin ducked out of the way, you were pulled into the firing line instead. You gasped in shock, blinking as the green stuff slid down your face.

You felt Keith’s smirk in your mind. _‘You know, you’re kind of cute with that stuff stuck in your eyelashes.’_

_‘I’ll stick YOU somewhere if you don’t shut up, Flyboy.’_

You were hit once again – deliberately this time – and you grabbed a handful of goo, glaring threateningly at the Alteans.

“Go loose, Y/N!” Keith encouraged, and you needed no further urging. Allura gasped as she was hit in her lovely face with an accurately aimed throw.

_‘Wow, you’ve got a good arm!’_ Keith congratulated you.

_‘I played left field for the Garrison softball team. I could hit the catcher’s glove from the outfield nine times out of ten,’_ you informed him proudly, even as you ducked another glob of goo.

More food splattered the other Paladins. Hunk groaned. “Oh, it’s on now.”

He dove head first into his plate of food goo, before spitting it directly into the faces of the Alteans seated opposite him.

Food flew around the dining hall, causing everyone to give a triumphant cheer whenever they hit their target. Altean or Earthling, it didn’t matter. It was a food fight free-for-all, and eventually everyone was laughing uproariously. Even Shiro, normally so sensible, had a boyish grin on his handsome face.

“Enough! Do you see what you’re doing?” Allura cried sharply, causing everyone to pause. She looked up, and you noticed that she wore a wide smile. “You’re finally working together as one!”

“Hey, she’s right!” Keith sounded surprised. He turned to you with an enormous grin on his stupid face, and for some reason, you found yourself swooning just a teeny bit. He had a gorgeous smile. Maybe it just seemed gorgeous because it wasn’t used very often, but Keith’s smile seemed to light up his whole face. For a brief second, you understood why so many of the Garrison girls used to fantasise about him.

Lance turned to Keith with a perplexed expression. “I actually don’t hate you right now.”

“You guys thinking what I’m thinking?” asked Hunk.  
  
Shiro nodded. “Let’s go form Voltron!”  
  
“Yeah!” four of you yelled.

Hunk looked slightly disappointed. “Actually, I was thinking dessert. But yeah! Let’s do it!”  
  
The rest of you groaned at Hunk, before attempting to turn and head to the Lions. Unfortunately, you all forgot that you were still cuffed together, and so you ended up in a tangled heap in the middle of the dining hall.

Allura laughingly took pity on all of you, and the restraints were removed.

With a sigh of relief, the team headed to the Lions. It didn’t take long for you all to be prepped and ready to fly once again.  
  
“Everyone ready to do this?” Shiro asked.  
  
“Roger that!” Pidge’s voice was strong and clear.

“It’s on!” Lance confirmed.

“Yes, sir!” Keith replied.

“You know it!” you cried.

“I was born ready!” Hunk declared.

“Then let’s go!” Shiro urged.

“Yeah!”

Allura and Coran watched as the five Lions formed Voltron.

“I told you I could get them to do it,” Allura boasted. “They just needed a common enemy.”  
  
“It’s true,” Coran agreed. “Like the old proverb says, ‘A man can be driven to do anything, if a beautiful woman is just really, really mean to him’.”

**************************************

The six of you returned to the Castle, feeling a sense of satisfaction that you finally seemed to be gelling as a team. Forming Voltron was beginning to feel more natural, and you were starting to understand how each other worked.

“Man, that was cool!” Lance said. “I’m so charged up, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sleep tonight.”  
  
“Not me,” Keith declared. “When my head hits the pillow, I’m going to be lights out.”

“I feel like I could sleep for a week,” you said, stretching your back to try and remove some of the kinks. Your shirt rode up an inch or so as you stretched, and Keith tried valiantly not to look at the exposed skin of your stomach.

“I just want you to know that I realised when we were in Voltron, we’re brothers, man,” Hunk said solemnly. “You know? Like, we’re totally connected. No secrets, no barriers, no nothing. Brothers all the way. I love you guys.”

He grabbed Lance and Keith in a fierce bear hug, causing both boys to wince slightly. You noted that despite his initial shock, Keith relaxed into Hunk’s embrace much sooner than Lance did, and also took longer to pull away. You weren’t sure why, but you filed that away for future reference.

Keith gave him a teasing smile. “G-forces mess with your head a little bit?”  
  
“Yeah, maybe a little. I don’t know. It’s been a tough few days.”

“Should I be offended that you think of me as a brother?” you teased.

Hunk blanched. “Oh, no! I’m so sorry, Y/N! Of course you’re not like a brother to me! Um… a sister, I guess? Or just a really good friend… Jeez, I didn’t mean…”

You laughed. “It’s fine, Hunk. You and Lance have always treated me like one of the boys. I’d actually be more upset if you stopped now.”

You gave him an affectionate hug, ignoring that brief flicker of jealousy from the boy you were life-bonded to.

“Good work today,” Shiro praised everyone. “We’re really coming together.”

It had turned out to be a good day after all, and each of you felt more confident about your individual roles in the team, and about your ability to work together effectively.

You should have known it was too good to last.


	6. We Are The Champions... Maybe...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Pidge and Shiro tend to the prisoners that were rescued from the Galra warship, you and the others assist Princess Allura on a peacekeeping mission with the local Arusians. When a new threat emerges, Shiro realises that he’s encountered it before. 
> 
> You and Keith make a new discovery about the Red Lion, and you start to move closer towards a genuine friendship with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter based on Series 1, Episode 3, “Return of the Gladiator”

The team returned to the common room after another intense training session. The more you worked together, the easier it was becoming to form Voltron. Even Keith and Lance were beginning to work together more professionally.

“Great job training today, guys. We’re really getting the hang of Voltron.” Shiro’s voice was filled with pride.

“Seriously, how far do you think my Lion kicked that broken alien ship? Must have been like a mile!” Lance boasted.

Keith snorted with derision. “Yeah, that’ll come in handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match.”  
  
So much for professional. You should have known their rivalry wouldn’t pause for long.

“Hey, I did something cool and you can’t handle it. I get it.” Lance was not about to be put off by Keith’s criticism.

“Your kick ruined our balance. We fell,” Keith retorted.

Lance looked at you, and his expression grew crestfallen when you shrugged apologetically. “He’s not wrong,” you told him.

Feeling betrayed, Lance pointed at Hunk. “Well, the falling part was Hunk’s fault!”  
  
“Hey!” the Yellow Paladin cried in protest.

“Alright, save your energy for fighting Zarkon.” Shiro reminded the team of who the real enemy was as you all took your places at the dining table.

Coran entered the dining room with his usual cheerful demeanour, carrying a covered dish. “Hello, guys! How was the Voltron workout?”

“We’re getting there,” Shiro advised. “Are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet? I feel like we’re sitting ducks here on Arus.”  
  
“Just about. In the meantime, to get your minds off those duck seats you’re worried about, I made you guys an authentic ancient Paladin lunch!”

Coran placed the dish on the table and whipped off the cover with a flourish. Everyone gagged when you noticed that instead of green goo, this stuff was… moving. It was green and slimy and… was that… oh, dear God, it looked like a _worm._

“Coran, you just got me hooked on that goo and now you’re switching it up?” Hunk complained.

“This is packed with nutrients,” Coran informed him loftily.

Hunk took a tentative sniff, wrinkling his nose with distaste as he hurriedly moved away from the offending dish. “Oh, it smells disgusting!”

“I know! That’s how you know it’s healthy!”

You gagged again. “Oh, God, it’s _moving._ Nope, sorry Coran but I am not going to eat something that looks like it’s going to be tasting me back. Nope. Not happening.”

Keith’s face turned slightly green at your comment, and he instantly decided that he wasn’t really that hungry after all, despite his stomach suggesting otherwise.

Hunk shook his head, his culinary sensibilities more than slightly offended by the Altean offering. “Coran, we’re on a planet now with fresh herbs, spices, and whatever this thing is. A tuber?”

He held up some sort of plant. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to head back to the kitchen and spice things up.”  
  
The Yellow Paladin scuttled off, eager to try and make something more palatable to Earthling tastebuds.

Shiro looked around, noting that one of the team was missing. “Where’s Pidge?”

“Probably checking on those prisoners we rescued from Zarkon,” Coran replied arund a mouthful of food. “They’ll all be waking soon in the infirmary.”

He got a spoonful of goo and moved it towards the Black Paladin in an imitation of an aircraft. “Open the hatch. Food lion coming in!”

You and Lance snickered at the sight of the Altean trying to spoon-feed your leader. Even Keith had a grin on his face, enjoying Shiro’s obvious discomfort at the grub-like creature wriggling on the end of Coran’s fork.  
  
“No. Just… no.” Shiro’s mouth remained firmly shut as he made his escape.

“You don’t know what you’re missing!” Coran called after him.

**************************************

Keith and Lance took one look at the lunch that Hunk had made and, without hesitation, began scoffing as much as they could. They practically inhaled every morsel, no doubt competing to see which one of them could eat the most. It was as if they’d never seen food before.

Allura came into the dining room just as you were all finishing the delicious meal that Hunk had prepared, advising that the final nebulon booster was now working. Coran’s expression was sulky that all of you preferred your team-mate’s offering to his own.

Shiro and Pidge left the dining hall to talk to the rescued prisoners, in the hope of finding out more about the possible whereabouts of Pidge’s family.

All at once, an alarm started blaring. Lance continued slurping his food while the rest of you tried to determine whether it was an attack. The Castle’s computer started beeping. Allura brought up the vid-screen with a swipe of her hand.

“What is that?” Keith frowned, looking at the screen.

“I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s a local Arusian,” the princess pondered.

You saw on the screen that a small creature was approaching the castle, yelling ferociously. Well, you assumed it was meant to be ferocious. You thought it was actually kind of cute.

“Awwww!” Hunk crooned, seemingly agreeing with your assessment.

“Doesn’t look too dangerous,” Lance observed.

“You never know,” Keith disagreed, summoning his Bayard. You rolled your eyes. _Of course_ he would be looking for an excuse to fight something.

“No,” Allura cautioned. “Alteans believe in peace first. Let’s go welcome them.”

“That's adorable,” you murmured.

“Hey, maybe we can knit him a little sweater!” Lance offered. You giggled at your best friend’s mother hen tendencies.

Keith scowled. “I’m not taking any chances.”

The Castle door opened, and the small creature yelled in fright, then hid behind a bush. Allura rushed to reassure it. “Greetings. We know you’re there. No harm will come to you.”

The creature came out cautiously, grunting. Hunk gave another small, “Awww!”

“Wait! He could be dangerous.” Keith pushed you and Allura behind him, waving his Bayard threateningly. “Drop your weapon!”

The creature waved his own weapon at Keith. “No one takes Klaizap’s weapon!”

“Keith, put that away!” Allura admonished. Turning to the small creature, she said, “Please, kind sir, accept my most humble apologies.”

“I am Klaizap, bravest of our warriors,” the creature advised. “Our village is over Gazrel Hill. I come seeking answers as to why the Lion Goddess is angered with her followers.”

“Followers?” Lance repeated quizzically.

“Lion Goddess?” you wondered.

“The one the ancients spoke of,” Klaizap stated, pointing to a rock carving of a lion-shaped Goddess.

Allura looked at the small being. “What makes you think she’s angered?”

“Destruction is everywhere,” Klaizap explained. “In the past few suns, fire has rained from the heavens and a giant has danced in the sky.”

“I think he’s talking about Voltron,” Hunk stage-whispered.

“Yeah, I got that,” Lance replied.

“You have not angered the Lion Goddess,” Allura assured Klaizap.

“How can you be certain?”  
  
She smiled. “Because I am Allura and this is my Castle.”

“Lion Goddess!” Klaizap gasped. He fell to his knees, bowing to the princess reverently.

Allura helped the creature stand. “Please, bravest warrior, take us to your village so that we may meet our neighbours.”

“What about our mission to get off this planet and fight Zarkon?” Keith reminded her. He sounded slightly miffed at the lack of fighting prospects.

“Part of the Paladins’ mission is to spread peace and diplomacy,” Allura said. “Arus has been our host for ten thousand years. These people deserve our thanks.”

_‘Awwww, poor baby. Are you sad that you don’t get to fight somebody smaller than yourself?’_ you teased, noting Keith’s expression was still upset.

_‘It’s still early. I’m sure the opportunity to punch Lance in the face will present itself before the end of the day.’_

**************************************

Klaizap led you to his village, where he introduced you to the other Arusians. The tiny beings happily accepted the gifts that you handed out, courtesy of the princess. Keith still seemed sulky at the lack of fighting prospects, but you thought the little village was absolutely charming. Hunk and Lance appeared to agree with you.

A larger Arusian came and stood in front of Allura before addressing her. “Oh, Lion Goddess, I, King of the Arusians, formally beg your forgiveness. Please have mercy on us and accept our traditional Dance of Apology as atonement for our wrongdoings.”

The King clapped twice, and a small female Arusian appeared. “Commence the Dance of Apology! Hoorah!”

A horn sounded, and several Arusians began beating a rhythm on their drums. The other Arusians cheered as the dancer began. You and the other Paladins glanced at each other, feeling awkward at watching the strange spectacle. Lance in particular cast a critical eye over the performance; he loved dancing, and found himself struggling not to burst into hysterical laughter at what he was witnessing.

“Please, there’s no need for this,” Allura said, trying to end the torturous performance.

“Moontow, halt!” the King cried mournfully. “The Goddess has refused the apology. Start the sacrificial fire.”

The Arusians lit a huge bonfire, and the King proclaimed solemnly, “We must throw ourselves in.”  
  
Your eyes widened in shock as the Arusians started screaming. You reflexively grabbed Keith’s hand in fear that the tiny natives might actually be serious; he squeezed it back in a futile attempt to reassure you that nothing of the sort was actually going to happen.“No!” Allura cried desperately. “No sacrifices!”  
  
The Arusian King glanced at her. “So we may proceed with the dance?” he asked, in the tone of someone who has just gotten exactly what they wanted.  
  
 _‘That sly little monkey!’_ you thought, as Allura agreed that the dance was a much preferable alternative to mass suicide. _‘He did that on purpose!’_

_‘Maybe these guys are smarter than they look,’_ Keith thought back.

As the dance ended, the Arusians bowed low to the princess, who seemed extremely embarrassed at their grovelling. She thanked them for the dance, and began apologising for not being a deity as they believed, but rather an accidental guest who had unwittingly endangered them all. “Although we originally came from different worlds, and have very, very, _very_ different traditions, we wish to live alongside you as friends.”

“But the mighty robotic angel… has it not come to destroy us because of our immoral ways?” the Arusian King queried.

“Voltron? No,” the princess reassured them. “In fact, that mighty robot is here to protect you. Let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe!”

The Arusians cheered. The team found themselves being swarmed by the diminutive beings, enveloped in hugs and warm embraces. You laughed as one of the Arusians launched itself at Keith, who looked more than a little uncomfortable at the contact.

“I don’t usually hug strangers, but, uh… Man, you are cuddly.”

“Thank you,” a deep voice replied. You laughed even harder at Keith’s astonishment that he was being hugged by an Arusian male.

_‘Naaaaaw, that’s adorable. Do you want me to steal one of these guys so you can use it as a teddy bear?’_

_‘Shut up.’_

**************************************

You and Keith leant against a tree, watching Allura interacting with the locals. The Red Paladin had a small smile on his face, and you marvelled at how relaxed he looked. He seemed almost like a different person. Almost… friendly. He caught you staring, and quirked an eyebrow. You missed the smirk that appeared when you looked away quickly, pretending that you hadn’t been looking at him in the first place.

In the midst of celebrations with the Arusian villagers, you heard Shiro’s voice desperately calling over the comms. “Team, come in! We need backup! Hello?”

“Shiro?” Allura responded.

“Where is everyone?”

“What’s going on?” Keith demanded. The ground started rumbling, causing the Arusians to whimper in fear. Looking up, he spotted a large fiery object heading towards the planet’s surface. “Oh, no. We gotta get to our Lions!”  
  
“Everyone get inside and stay down!” Allura started ushering the villagers inside their huts.

“I’m on it!” Hunk cried as he followed the crowd.

“Not you!” You grabbed the larger Paladin by the collar, halting his retreat into the nearest building. He whined as you dragged him back. You shoved him in the direction of the Yellow Lion, and then raced after Keith, jumping into the cockpit of the Red Lion just as it roared to life.

You spotted the Black and Green Lions, under fire from a strange robot. You pointed them out to Keith, who relayed it to the others.

“Lay down some covering fire so they can get out of there!” he ordered, firing Red’s mouth cannon at the beast.

“I’m on it!” Lance confirmed, firing at the beast with Blue’s tail cannon.

“Check this out! Battle-Lion headbutt!” Hunk cried, headbutting the robot with the Yellow Lion.

“You guys okay down there?” Keith asked, a sense of urgency in his voice.

“Still alive for now,” Shiro responded.

“Are the Galra behind this?” Hunk asked.

“I think so, but I’ve never seen anything like it,” Shiro replied.

“So, what’s the plan?” Lance cried desperately. “Shoot at it with everything we’ve got? Take out its weapon? Call it names?”  
  
“If we want to take this monster down, there’s only one way to do it.” The Black Lion roared. “Form Voltron!”

The five Lions transformed into the giant robot, and stood facing the strange robot beast.

“Remember, we are one unit, fighting with one goal,” Shiro reminded you.

The robot beast’s weapon whirred. It released an energy orb, which whooshed past the Red Lion. Keith and you both yelled loudly. Pidge yelled as another orb flew past the Green Lion. Soon, everybody was yelling.

The weapon whirred again, and Voltron crashed as it was hit.

“I thought Voltron was the most powerful weapon in the universe!” Keith sounded offended that it might not be true.

“Yeah, so how is this monster kicking our butts?” Hunk cried.

The orb whirred again, but this time it was not in the direction of Voltron.

“Oh, no! The village!” Shiro realised. “We have to protect those people!”

There was rumbling as the orb hit the ground, Voltron having successfully diverted the energy ball.

“That was close!” Shiro cried.

“We got him away from the Arusians, but we can’t take him down!” Pidge cried with frustration.

“I got it! I’m going to power-kick that orb thing!” Lance suggested.

“No!” you cried. “The last time you did a kick, we fell!”  
  
“Stop living in the past, Y/N!” Lance yelled. He kicked, and Voltron fell as it was struck by a plasma ball. “Oh, no!”

“Pidge, fire lasers now!” Shiro ordered.

“Got it! Fire!” Pidge stammered frantically as it became clear that it wasn’t the lasers that had been activated, but rather Voltron’s shield. “Oops!”

“No! Lasers! _Lasers!”_

The team groaned in unison as the robot beast hit Voltron once again.

“Every time we focus on that orb, we’re blindsided by the monster, and every time we focus on the monster, the orb hits us!” Hunk noted.

“Then what do we do?” Lance demanded.

“Orb!” you yelled. Voltron moved aside in response, and everyone grunted.

“Shiro, we gotta move!” Keith cried. There was no response. “Shiro, are you there? Shiro!”

The robot’s weapon whirred again, the orb crackling with energy.

“That sound… I recognise this monster from my time in Zarkon’s prison. I know how to beat him!” Shiro finally said. “Listen, there’s a loud sound when the orb returns to the base of the weapon, and every third time, that orb needs to charge up. That’s this monster’s weakest point. That’s when we strike.”

“Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?” asked Hunk.

“Defense!” Shiro yelled, as the orb whirred. “Pidge, we need that shield!”

The team grunted as Voltron was hit again, despite Pidge summoning the shield.

“That’s one. Two more to go!” counted Shiro.

“We can’t take much more!” cried Hunk.

“Last one! Everyone brace for impact!” Shiro ordered. You braced yourself against the back of Keith’s chair, your teeth jarring from the impact of the orb hitting Voltron.

“You alright, sweetheart?” For once, the nickname was tinged with worry rather than sarcasm.

“Peachy keen, Flyboy. You?”

“Having the time of my life!” Keith hooted as he fired at the ro-beast, sending it backwards. Unfortunately, it had only been stunned, rather than destroyed. After only a couple of seconds, it stood again, charging its weapon once more.

“It didn’t work!” you wailed with despair.

“So now what?” Lance asked, his voice several octaves higher.

Shiro remembered something. “When I attacked him before, I had a sword!”

Voltron was hit yet again, and it was evident that it wouldn’t be able to withstand much more of that type of impact.

The Red Lion started beeping urgently, and you and Keith tried to concentrate on what it was trying to tell you. A new section of the console appeared in front of you, showing the two of you an image you’d never seen before.

“Wait a second, guys. I think my Lion’s telling me what to do,” Keith told the others.  
  
“Well whatever it is, hurry up and do it! He’s about to fire his third shot!” Lance’s voice was filled with desperation.

You turned to Keith, eyes huge as you tried to grasp what Red had conveyed to you. Keith’s eyes were also wide, and he gave you a small nod. It seemed you were both on the same page. Grabbing his Bayard, Keith reached towards the console. Just as he was about to connect it, Voltron was struck by the energy orb, causing it to fall and Keith to lose his grip on the Bayard.

“You concentrate on getting us back up, Flyboy. I’ll take care of this,” you told your fellow Paladin.

You grabbed your Bayard and shoved it into the console, even as he thrust the controls forward with a yell. You both grinned ferociously as Voltron’s hands came together and activated a gigantic blazing sword, just in the nick of time.

As the ro-beast was about to fire its weapon again, Voltron sliced through the centre of the creature with the giant sword. The beast split in half and collapsed into the dirt. The whole team sighed with relief at having defeated a formidable foe

“How did you do that?” Hunk asked curiously.

“Teamwork,” you replied. You smiled at the Red Paladin. “Great work, partner.”

You put your fist up expectantly. Surprisingly, Keith actually seemed to understand this particular social cue, and bumped your fist with his own. “You too, babe.”

Your heart skipped a beat at the new endearment, which he seemed to have bestowed upon you unconsciously.

You both heard the disgruntled whine of the Red Lion echoing in your minds, startling a laugh of the two of you.

“Thanks, Red,” Keith murmured softly.

“Good kitty,” you smiled.

Yes, the three of you were going to make an awesome team, as long as you stuck together.


	7. The Tiniest Piece Can Make The Biggest Impact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith tries to convince Pidge not to leave the team, and you help Lance deal with a bout of homesickness, as invaders take over the Castle in an attempt to steal Voltron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter follows the events of Season 1, Episode 4 “The Fall of the Castle of Lions” and Episode 5 “Tears of the Balmera”.

Following the defeat of the ro-beast, the Arusians held a feast in the Castle of Lions to celebrate Voltron’s victory. The pint-sized beings had staged a glaringly inaccurate re-enactment of the events, to Princess Allura’s mortification and the team’s great mirth. Once the ‘play’ had reached its long drawn out conclusion, the Arusians cheered.

“Thank you, Your Majesty, for that… wonderful production,” Allura praised them diplomatically. “It saddens me that we must leave tomorrow, but we must continue our battle with Zarkon and spread peace throughout the universe.”

She handed the Arusian King an Altean communicator. “Your Highness, please accept this gift. This will allow you to contact us any time you need help. Arus will be the first planet in the Voltron Alliance.”

“Hoorah!” The Arusian King cheered, holding up the communicator. His subjects also cheered enthusiastically.

Hunk approached you, Keith and Lance, where the three of you had been standing aside watching the dramatisation of Voltron’s battle, and trying unsuccessfully to keep a straight face, the three of you giggling uncontrollably at the spectacle before you.

“We ought to get something like that,” the Yellow Paladin said.

“Like what?” Lance asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“You know, like, a cheer. Like, a team cheer that we do.”

Lance nodded, a knowing look on his face. “Mm-hmm. Yeah, okay. How about, uh… I say ‘Vol’, and you say ‘Tron’. Vol – ” He looked at all of you expectantly.

Keith glanced at him uncertainly. “Uh… Vol-tron?”

“No!” Lance sounded indignant at Keith’s apparent lack of education. “No no no no no. The cheer includes the instructions. I say ‘Vol’ and you say…”

Keith’s questioning gaze turned to you for guidance, only to be greeted by a perplexed shrug. “…Vol-tron?”

Lance sighed in defeat. “We’ll work on it.”

He took a sip of the drink that he’d been handed by the Arusians, only to pull a grimace of disgust. “Coran, what is this?”

“Oh, this is Nunvill, the nectar of the gods,” the ginger-haired Altean informed him.

Lance stuck out his tongue. “It tastes like hot dog water and _feet.”_

“Yes. It makes a wonderful hair tonic as well.” Coran sprinkled a few drops of the drink on his moustache, which instantly grew even more luxurious.

Lance retched, yet continued to sip the beverage. Suddenly, he stiffened and appeared to stop breathing, his eyes frozen wide as if in terror. Both Keith and Hunk poked him until he fell over, stiff as a board. You smacked both of them in the back of the head, even as your laughter increased at your friend’s expense.

Keith tried some of the Nunvill, obviously determined to outdo Lance, and his expression was one of instant regret. He immediately spat it out all over Hunk, who turned away and then turned back again with food stuck to his face.

“Ow, my eyes!” he wailed in mock despair.

The three of you laughed uproariously, and many of the Arusians joined in. It was unusual seeing Keith enjoying himself for a change, and you decided that he was absolutely adorable when he was happy. You told yourself to revel in it while it lasted. Who knew when he would turn back into his usual sulky self?

Lance eventually regained his senses, and joined Hunk, while you and Keith stood chatting quietly nearby. Your postures unconsciously mirrored each other, heads close together and soft smiles on your faces. In a seemingly absentminded gesture, you reached up and brushed a lock of hair out of Keith’s eyes, and his smile widened slightly.

Lance glared at the two of you briefly, still miffed that the universe had decided to life-bond you for all eternity to the one person he was convinced he detested more than any other. With a roll of his eyes, he turned to the Yellow Paladin and held up his glass of Nunvill. “I guess we should get used to this space juice. Who knows when we’ll get back home again?”

“Yeah, if ever,” Hunk sighed despondently.

Lance narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, if this Zarkon guy has been ruling for ten thousand years, how long do you think it will take for us to fix it? You know, if we live.”

“Right. That.” Lance was suddenly no longer in a party mood.

Hunk grabbed some alien food from a tray which was floating past, and inspected it carefully. “Hey, what do you think the chances are of us landing on a nacho planet?”  
  
“Well, there’s only one planet with Verraderra Beach, and Pizza Shack looking over the water, and the garlic knots, and… my mom’s hugs…” Lance’s throat constricted, and his eyes started to well up. “I’m sorry. I think this Nunvill is getting to me. I gotta go.”  
  
He raced out of the room, leaving Hunk staring after him with confusion. Neither of them noticed you watching your friend leave, a concerned frown on your face.

Keith noticed, however, and nudged you with his elbow. “You should make sure he’s okay.”

You turned to him with surprise.

“What? Just because I don’t like the guy doesn’t mean I want to see him upset. Besides,” Keith gave you a pointed look. “You won’t be satisfied until you know that he’s all right. I don’t need your constant worry about him keeping me up all night.”

Right. Your thoughts were wide open to the Red Paladin thanks to that good old life-bond. You gave Keith a grateful smile, and, left him to follow your friend.

You found Lance sitting forlornly in the Bridge of the Castle.

“Mind if I join you?” You sat down next to him before he could answer.

“How far away from Earth do you think we are, Y/N?” he asked softly.

“Let’s take a look.”

Coran and Allura had shown you, Pidge and Shiro how to use the holographic map of the universe, as the three of you had demonstrated the most interest in your current whereabouts. As a navigator, you were particularly intrigued by your current situation.

You brought up the map and located your home planet. “Earth is over here. And we’re aaaaaaaaaaall… the waaaaaaaay… oveeeeer…”

The map moved for several seconds, still yet to reach Arus. Lance approached you as he stared at the map. “You ever notice how far the planets are from each other, Y/N?”

You nodded. “Yes. But it doesn’t seem that far when you can jump through a wormhole.”  
  
“Yeah, but I mean, like, they’re really, _really_ far away. Like, say, Earth? It’s so far, I can’t even see it. The… the blue oceans, the white clouds, green grass… I c- I-I… I can’t see any of it.” His voice broke, and your heart clenched.

“You miss Earth. I understand. I miss it too, sometimes.”  
  
Lance’s shoulders slumped. “I know we’re supposed to be brave Paladins and Defenders of the Universe or whatever, but, honestly? I just want to go home.”  
  
You wrapped your arms around his shoulder, cuddling as close to him as possible. “I’m not sure I would go home, if I could. But then, my family isn’t anywhere near as nice as yours.”  
  
Lance’s large Cuban family had treated you as one of their own from the moment Lance introduced you to them, which endeared them to you enormously. You knew exactly how much he would be missing his close-knit relatives. Your own parents had been formal, distant and standoffish, which made it difficult for you to find yourself missing them.

“I do miss some things about Earth, though,” you admitted. “Like, going to the movies, or dancing in my bedroom while listening to my favourite song.”

Lance gave another huge sigh. “I miss rain, and splashing in puddles.”

“I miss the smell of freshly baked bread, and swimming at the beach.”  
  
“I miss my mom’s cooking.” Lance’s eyes filled with tears once again.

“I miss seeing familiar constellations,” you said softly. “The stars in this galaxy don’t look right to me.”

The two of you sat quietly, arms around each other, reminiscing about your favourite things from Earth. It might have seemed like a strange way to cheer up someone, but then, Lance had never been one for doing things conventionally.

“Thanks, cutie. I think I feel a bit better now.” Your friend hugged you, a slightly happier expression on his face.

“Good. Because we already have one angst-riddled teen on the team, and quite frankly, I’m not sure I’m emotionally equipped to deal with another one.” Standing up, you held out a hand to Lance. “Come on, Pretty Boy, let’s get back to the others.”

Your best friend smiled at the use of the nickname you’d given him in the very first week of cadet training, and he willingly let you haul him to his feet, seemingly on his way to returning to his usual happy-go-lucky self.

**************************************

Keith and Shiro were stunned to be told that Pidge had managed to obtain information about where their family might be, and had therefore decided to leave the team. Allura was trying desperately to convince Pidge to stay, but the Green Paladin’s mind was very firmly made up.

“Pidge, no…” Shiro began.

“The download from the Galra ship was enough to at least get me in the right direction to start my search. I have a pod ready to go,” Pidge informed him.

“You can’t leave!” Keith said, stalking towards the younger teen.

“You can’t tell me what to do!” Pidge retorted.

“If you leave, we can’t form Voltron,” Keith gritted out through clenched teeth. “And that means we can’t defend the universe against Zarkon. You’re not the only one with a family. _All these Arusians_ have families. _Everyone_ in the universe has families.” Keith waved his arms behind him to emphasise his point.

“Yeah, I have a family. They live on Earth. I want to be with them. Is that – Is that, like, a thing that can happen?” Hunk asked.

Allura looked shocked. “You want to leave, too?”  
  
Hunk nodded vigorously. “Of course I do. Look, Voltron is super cool, don’t get me wrong, but I never signed up for a lifetime in space fighting aliens.”

Keith’s rage increased. He closed in on Pidge, standing threateningly over the tiny Paladin. “YOU’RE PUTTING THE LIVES OF **TWO PEOPLE** OVER THE LIVES OF **EVERYONE ELSE** IN THE ENTIRE GALAXY!”

Shiro grabbed Keith’s arm, pulling him away from Pidge. “Keith! That’s not how a team works. People have to _want_ to be a part of it. They can’t be forced.”

Keith reluctantly relented. He felt your concern at his anger through the life-bond.

_‘Keith, what’s wrong?’_

_‘Pidge is leaving. Apparently, family is more important than saving the entire universe.’_ His returning thought was laced with bitterness.

_‘Lance and I are heading your way now. Try to keep Pidge there for a few more minutes; we’ll see if we can convince that stubborn little nerd to stay.’_

_‘I don’t like your chances. Shiro has pretty much given his blessing for Pidge to go.’_

It seemed like the team was going to fall apart, despite all of the efforts that everyone had made to work together. Keith had never felt so frustrated in his life.

**************************************

As you and Lance were leaving the Bridge, you saw Pidge’s drone, Rover, heading inside.

“Hey, Rover,” Lance greeted the drone. It ignored him and headed towards the Power Crystal which provided the Castle with energy. Lance stopped walking, turning to look at the drone with a frown. “Wait… where’s Pidge?”  
  
That caused you to turn and look as well. Rover was never far from Pidge. But Pidge was nowhere to be seen. It looked like Keith was right. Pidge was going to leave the team.

Suddenly, Lance gasped. “Y/N, look out!”

He pushed you out of the way just as the drone exploded, destroying the Power Crystal. The Castle immediately lost power, the force of the blast shaking the entire Castle.

You sat up groggily, shaking your head to try and clear the ringing in your ears, just as Shiro and the others reached the Bridge. Keith immediately ran to your side, helping you to your feet, his face reflecting his concern as he scanned you for any obvious signs of injury.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” he asked, his voice soft and filled with worry.

“I’m fine, Keith,” you assured him, even though you could feel that he didn’t believe you.  
  
“What happened?” Shiro asked.

“I’m not sure,” you admitted, looking around the Bridge.

The smoke cleared, and Allura gasped with dismay. “The Crystal!”

Looking up, everyone noticed that the Power Crystal had been destroyed. Suddenly, you noticed something else which alarmed you even more.

_“Lance!”_ You gave an anguished cry as you rushed over to your friend, who was lying on the floor, unconscious. You knelt down and cradled him in your arms, trying desperately to rouse him. “Lance…? Lance!”

Keith knelt beside you, his own face reflecting his fear for the Blue Paladin.

“We have to get Lance to the infirmary!” Pidge declared.

“Without the Crystal, the Castle has no power,” Allura informed everyone.

Shiro looked at Lance with a worried expression. “He doesn’t look good.”

The Arusian King entered the Bridge. “Lion warriors, our village is under attack! We need help!”  
  
“Let’s get to the Lions!” Keith cried, standing up and once again ready to fight.

“You can’t,” Allura sighed. “They’re sealed in their hangars. There’s no way to get them out. We’re defenceless.”

The Arusian King wailed with despair. “Will you not help us?”  
  
“We’ll help you,” Keith assured him. “We just…”

Lance groaned in pain, and Keith felt your fear for him increase. Hunk glanced at him sadly. “This is bad.”

“We have to get a new Crystal. We need a ship,” Coran advised.

“The pod I was loading, we can use that!” Pidge cried. “I left the bay door open.”

Coran seemed excited. “I can use the scanner in the pod to see if there’s a Balmera nearby. Hunk, you come with me. I’ll need someone big to help me carry the Crystal.”

Hunk’s tone was curious. “A Balmera?”

“It’s where the Crystals come from. I’ll tell you about it on the way!” Coran, Pidge and Hunk headed for the flight pod.

“I’ll go see what’s happening at the Arusian village,” Keith offered.

Allura moved to stand beside him. “I’ll go with you, Keith. I brought this on the poor Arusians.”  
  
Keith glanced at you uncertainly. “Y/N?”

You shook your head, still clinging to Lance. “He’s in this condition because he pushed me out of the way. Lance saved my life. I’m _not_ leaving him.”

Keith nodded, understanding that your distress for your friend overrode everything else for you. _‘He’s going to be okay.’_

_‘I hope so. Because I don’t know what I’m going to do if he’s not.’_

Keith sent you a wave of reassurance through your life-bond, and you gave him a shaky smile.

Shiro offered to stay to help you tend to Lance, and to keep watch over the Castle in the absence of the Princess. Keith and Allura left with the Arusian King, leaving you and your mentor alone with the unconscious prankster.

You reluctantly relinquished your hold on Lance as Shiro gently lifted him, carrying him over his shoulder to the Castle’s entrance. “Hang on buddy. Help is on the way,” Shiro said.

Suddenly, you saw the Galra general approaching, a small squadron of sentries at his heels.

“Sendak!” you hissed.

Shiro lay Lance down and moved to block the entry into the Castle. You hovered protectively over the unconscious Paladin, your Bayard transformed into your staff, watching anxiously as the Galra advanced.

“Stand aside,” Sendak growled.

“No! You’re not getting in.” Shiro stood defiantly in front of the Castle, activating his prosthetic arm and preparing for a fight.

“Yes, I am.” Sendak rushed towards the Castle, and Shiro moved to stop him. They both threw a punch at the same time, their knuckles locked together. They fought furiously, but Sendak appeared to have the upper hand. He drove Shiro further and further back as he advanced on the Castleship.

“I see you spent some time with the Druids,” Sendak observed. “They do love to experiment. Too bad you didn’t get the latest model.”

He launched his gauntlet, sending Shiro back inside the Castle. Both of them continued to fight, each of them with their glowing prosthetic hand against the throat of the other.

“Shiro!” you cried, and the Black Paladin turned to see you struggling weakly against the hold of another Galra soldier, while another stood over Lance, a sword in his hand.

“Let him go or your friends won’t make it,” the sentry growled threateningly, a blade at your throat.

Shiro gazed helplessly at you and the still unconscious Lance, and Sendak struck him whilst his attention was diverted, knocking out your leader.

“Voltron is ours,” the general smirked, heading for the Bridge.

The Galra didn’t realise that their little exchange had been observed.

**************************************

Keith, Allura and the Arusian King arrived at the village to find it burning.

“What’s happening?” Allura cried.

The Arusian King pointed towards the Galra sentries who were standing among the flames and exploding buildings. “Look! Attackers!”

“I’ll go in for a closer look. Stay here with them,” Keith told Allura and the King.

“Keith!” Allura tried in vain to stop him as he ran towards the sentries.

Keith stared at the broken decoys in dismay. “What? Oh, no. They tricked us!”

_‘Keith!’_ Your thought rang urgently in his mind. _‘Sendak has taken over the Castle! He’s knocked out Shiro! You and Allura need to get back here now!’_

_‘Hang on, Y/N! I’m coming!’_ He contacted Allura through the comms. “It was just a diversion to separate us and thin the Castle defences!”

He and Allura looked back towards the Castle in shock. They ran back as fast as they could, reaching it just as the particle barrier was activated by the invading Galra, preventing them from entering the Castle.

Keith slammed his fist on the barrier in frustration. “We’re too late… _No!”_

“They have control of the Castle. They’re taking Voltron!” Allura wailed.

Keith summoned his Bayard into its katana form. “Can we break through the barrier?”

“No,” Allura shook her head. “And whoever has taken the Castle has a Crystal, which means they’ll be able to fly the ship. We have to stop them.”

“How are we going to do that?”

Suddenly, Pidge contacted him through the helmet comms. “Keith, can you hear me?”

“Pidge! Is that you? Where are you?”

“I’m inside the Castle. Sendak has taken over and he’s preparing for launch. He’s got Lance, Shiro and Y/N.”

“Yeah, Y/N already told me.” Keith’s expression was grim.

“Wait, how did she…?” Pidge paused. “Oooooooh, the telepathic link that you guys have because of your life-bond. I’ve got to say, that thing is coming in handy right about now.”

“Pidge, listen,” Allura instructed. “If they’ve started the launch sequence, then we don’t have much time before lift-off to stop it.”

‘What do I have to do?”

Pidge listened to Allura’s instructions, then headed off to try and repair the damage that the Galra had inflicted.

**************************************

Keith listened as Allura relayed a complicated set of instructions to Pidge. He crossed his fingers that the Green Paladin would be able to stop the Castle from taking flight, because if they couldn’t, Voltron was lost. Shiro, Pidge and Lance were lost. _You_ were lost.

All of a sudden, the communication channel between Allura and Pidge was disrupted. “I’ve lost connection with Pidge! Oh, no! It’s taking off!”

Keith watched as the Castle started to launch.

Then, just as suddenly, it appeared that something had interrupted the launch. Had Pidge done it? Had Pidge actually managed to cut the power to the main engine?  
  
Keith desperately hoped that he and Allura would be able to get to Pidge before the Galra did. He really did not want to think about what might happen to the tiniest member of the team if Sendak found out they had been the cause of the sabotage.

**************************************

Just as it appeared that the Galra general had managed to enact his plan of hijacking the Castle of Lions, an explosion sounded. Sendak turned to his second-in-command, enraged at the delay in his escape. “Haxus, I want whoever is in this ship found and terminated!”

You and Shiro exchanged a look. Had Keith or Allura managed to sneak in and disable the Castle?

Haxus spoke. “Commander Sendak, I’ve received a transmission generating from somewhere inside.”

He played the transmission. Allura’s voice sounded through the speakers. “There’s not much time before we get the ship running again. You _must_ shut off the particle barrier so we can get in.”

“You got it. Tell me what to do.”

_Pidge,_ you thought. You should have known it would be the tiny team genius who had managed to avoid detection from the Galra sentries.

Allura’s voice continued. “The particle barrier generator is beneath the main hull.”

Haxus turned to Sendak. “She’s telling the intruder how to take down our defences!”

“Yes, but she’s also giving away his location,” Sendak grinned mirthlessly. “Find that room. Kill the Paladin!”

The sentries left to do their commander’s bidding. He turned back to Haxus. “Prepare the engine. Emperor Zarkon has commanded us to bring him Voltron. This ship will rise before day’s end.”

You looked at Shiro again, and knew that his worried frown mirrored your own. You just hoped that Pidge disabled the engine before the sentries located them.

Otherwise it would spell the end of Voltron.

**************************************

Keith paced nervously while he waited for Pidge’s confirmation that the generator room was under control. Eventually, the Green Paladin advised they were in, although the Altean technology was more advanced than anything Pidge had experienced to date. Allura assured Pidge that it was still possible to disrupt the Galra’s plans to steal Voltron and the Castle, and talked the tiny teen through the procedure to shut down the particle barrier.

“Shutting down the barrier from this room can be dangerous. Remember, the barrier is also a weapon. So, stay away from the energy arcs,” the princess reminded Pidge.

“Don’t touch the giant lightning bolts,” Pidge muttered. “Got it.”  
  
“Now, what I’m going to need you to do is…” Allura’s instructions were interrupted by the sounds of Pidge’s screams intermingled with laser fire.

After what seemed a lifetime, Keith heard Pidge again. Apparently the Galra were once again powering up the castle. Pidge declared that they wouldn’t recommend touching anything metal when the system overloaded.

**************************************

Sendak had been calling for his underling, but was surprised when another voice sounded over the intercom.

“Haxus is gone, and you’re next!” Pidge’s voice told the Galra General defiantly.

“You’ve slowed me down, but this ship is mine! You will turn yourself over to me immediately!” Sendak growled.

“Never!”

Sendak turned a malicious grin towards you and Shiro. “Well, then, maybe your team-mates can convince you.”

“What do you want?” Shiro said, glaring up at Sendak as he stood in front of both of you.

“Your friend wanted to hear from you.”

“Shiro? Y/N?” Pidge sounded worried.

“Pidge!” you shrieked. “Pidge, don’t listen to…”

Your voice was cut off by a high-pitched scream as Sendak used his prosthetic arm to shock you with an enormous surge of electrical current. Your screams were soon joined by Shiro’s as the Galra turned his attentions to your leader.

“You can make it stop,” Sendak crooned to Pidge. “Turn yourself in. Their suffering is in your hands.”

That was the last thing you heard before the darkness overtook you.

**************************************

Sendak stood over Shiro, gloating at his apparent victory. “I’m impressed that you managed to escape. Perhaps it would be worth a trip to your planet to see if the rest of your kind have your spirit. Of course, they will all end up broken, just like you.”

“You underestimate our kind, Sendak,” you snarled. “The more you try to oppress us, the harder we will resist you. We will fight you with everything we have, and we will never stop until we no longer have breath.”

Sendak knelt in front of you, lifting your chin with one finger so that he could look you in the eye. His smile was sinister.

“Your defiance is rather enchanting, my pretty little Paladin,” the Galra commander purred. “If all Earthlings are as difficult as you, it will just make our victory all the sweeter.”

You glared at him, which only seemed to amuse him further. He spoke again. “Now that we have Voltron, every planet, every race – all share the same fate.”

**************************************

Alarms started blaring, and the Castle’s computer started up.

“It worked!” Keith cried as the particle barrier dropped. Pidge had done it!

He and Allura raced inside the Castle, following the sounds of fighting. Eventually, they found Sendak with his hand around Pidge’s throat as the young Paladin struggled weakly to escape. Lance was still unconscious, and you and Shiro were kneeling on the floor, hands cuffed behind your backs.

Keith had felt the pain you’d endured as Sendak had tortured you, and it had infuriated him that he couldn’t protect you. Seeing you kneeling on the ground, bruises on your face and neck from the Galra’s mistreatment of you, his temper ignited. He was about to rush headlong into an attack, when Sendak waved Pidge in the air like a ragdoll.

“Stand back,” he growled, his grip on the tiny Paladin tightening slightly.

A sudden blast hit Sendak in the back, which caused him to drop Pidge as he fell to the floor. Keith turned to see Lance fainting again, having regained consciousness long enough to fire a shot from his rifle.

As Sendak regained his footing, Shiro stood up and charged him, but was knocked back by the Galra.

That was your cue to aim a kick at the back of his knee in the hope that he would lose his balance. Unfortunately, he spotted you and connected his foot with your chest, kicking you backward to land heavily next to Lance. You wheezed, the breath knocked from your lungs, as you struggled to sit up.

Keith was enraged by what Sendak had just done to you, and proceeded to attack with his feet and fists as well as his katana, but was also flung aside by the Galra’s prosthetic arm. However, Sendak’s focus on the Red Paladin meant that he failed to notice Pidge moving in for the attack. Pidge activated the Green Bayard, using it to sever his prosthetic arm.

As Sendak screamed at the loss of his main weapon, Keith attacked once more, raining blow after blow at the Galra’s head with his katana. This distraction allowed Allura to access the control panel and activate the particle barrier surrounding the crystal he had brought aboard.

“Keith, now!”

With a grunt, Keith kicked Sendak towards the crystal, and Allura sealed him inside the safety of the particle barrier, trapping him.

Keith knelt beside you and cut through your handcuffs with his sword, fussing over you to make sure that you weren’t seriously injured. You felt his panic when he noticed a cut on your cheek, and sent him a wave of reassurance through your life-bond.

_‘My hero,’_ you teased weakly, in an attempt to ease his worry, even as your thought was tinged with relief at his timing.

_‘Had to rescue the damsel in distress, didn’t I? How IS Lance, by the way?’_ Keith moved to Lance’s side, earning a soft smile from you as he held out a hand to help Lance into a sitting position.

“Lance, are you okay?” he asked softly.

Lance groaned as he sat up, before his trademark grin appeared. “We did it. We _are_ a good team.”

For once, Keith didn’t argue with the Blue Paladin, instead returning Lance’s grin with a shy smile of his own.

_‘Careful, Flyboy. People might start to think you actually like him.’_

_‘Ugh. How dare you.’_

**************************************

You stared anxiously at Lance as Coran placed him in a healing pod. "He's going to be all right, isn't he?"

“After a day in here, he should be fully healed,” Allura assured you.

“Pidge, we can’t thank you enough for all you did,” Shiro told the Green Paladin. “I can’t help but feel that you were meant to be a part of our team… but I understand if you want to leave.”

Pidge sighed. “Dad used to tell me how close he was with his crew members. They were like family. Now I understand what he was talking about.” Pidge looked at all of you shyly. “I’m staying with you guys. Let’s stop Zarkon, for all of our families.”

With a happy cry, you wrapped your arms around Pidge, pressing a soft kiss to the tiny teen’s cheek as you whispered how glad you were that the team was sticking together. Pidge blushed furiously at your enthusiastic embrace.

Keith smiled proudly at the youngest Paladin, even as he tamped down that now expected surge of jealousy whenever you lavished affection on somebody other than himself.

“Good to have you back on the team,” he said. And he meant it.


	8. All Play And No Work Means Your Ass Gets Kicked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team Voltron leave Arus for the Balmera, but are diverted by a distress signal. Lance’s flirtatious nature lands him in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is based on Series 1 Episode 6 “Taking Flight”.

You stood in the Sleep Chamber of the Castle of Lions, staring at Lance, who was still sleeping inside a healing pod as he continued to recuperate from the injuries he received during the recent Galra attack. Allura and the others were with you, but you barely noticed them. You placed your hands on the pod, desperately hoping that your best friend would awaken soon.

“I can’t tell if he looks healthy or not,” Hunk fretted.

Pidge’s face was pressed up to the glass of the pod. “I think he’s breathing weird.”

“Oh, come on!” Keith stood behind you, reaching over your shoulder as he tapped on the pod impatiently.

Allura placed a gentle hand on his arm to stop him. “Not yet! A few more ticks.”

“How much better do you think he’s gonna get in a few more _ticks?”_ Keith huffed in annoyance.

“And what exactly _is_ a tick?” you asked curiously.

“You know, a time-slice,” Allura clarified, which only left you more befuddled.

“What, like a second?” Shiro asked.

The princess tilted her head to one side. “What is a… second?”

Pidge took out a data pad and opened up the timer, showing it to the Altean princess. “Like this.”  
  
Allura squinted. “I’m not sure. I think ticks are bigger. Coran, do you have a ticker?"

“Right here, Princess.” The Altean advisor took out the device, comparing the ticks being counted to the seconds on Pidge’s timer.

“I think ticks are a little slower,” Hunk observed.

“I can’t tell,” Pidge said. “We have to start them at the same time.”  
  
“Okay.” Coran and Pidge reset their counters. “Ready, go!” He and Pidge started both counters simultaneously, and everyone huddled around to watch.

“Yes!” Hunk cheered. “I think we’re winning.”  
  
“Winning what? The intergalactic time-measuring competition?” Keith asked sarcastically.

You gave a very unladylike snort. For some reason, you found his sarcastic sense of humour sort of appealing. It seemed the Red Paladin was growing on you. He grinned at you, pleased that you found his comment amusing.

A confused voice sounded behind Hunk. “You guys having a clock party?”  
  
“Aw, Lance, you just ruined it…” Hunk whined, then realised what had just happened. “Uh… Hey, Lance!” He grabbed Lance in a hug, almost squeezing the breath out of his lungs.

“What happened?” Lance wheezed, trying to get his breath back.

“We can tell you all about it while you get something to eat,” you smiled, wrapping one of Lance’s arms around your shoulders so you could prop him up. “Are you able to walk?”

“Talking? Eating? Are you asking me out on a date, cutie? You sure Mullet is okay with that?” You rolled your eyes at Lance, poking him in the ribs playfully as you muttered at him to behave.

“Yep. There he is,” Pidge observed.

“Yep, he’s okay,” Shiro said, sounding relieved.  
  
“Classic.” Keith sounded decidedly unimpressed. He’d once again felt that irrational surge of jealousy as Lance had flirted with you, and it took all of his willpower to prevent himself from removing your arms from around Lance’s waist and placing them around his own instead. He sulked a bit as you led your friend towards the Dining Hall, the rest of the team trailing behind.

The team watched Lance as he devoured food goo with gusto. You and Allura described what had happened since he had been injured, in particular the role that Pidge and the space mice had played in preventing the Galra general from stealing away with the Castle of Lions.

“We’d be Sendak’s prisoners right now, if not for Pidge,” Allura said proudly, causing the Green Paladin to blush.

“Well, you wouldn’t have survived the explosion if Hunk and Coran hadn’t gotten a new Crystal,” Pidge muttered.

Lance looked at everyone. “Wow. Thanks, everybody. Sounds like Pidge and the mice did more than all of you, though.”  
  
“I punched Sendak!” Keith protested, indignant that his efforts were so easily dismissed.

“Yeah, apparently after I emerged from a coma and shot his arm off,” Lance scoffed.

Keith’s eye started twitching. “We had a bonding moment. I cradled you in my arms!”

“Nope. Don’t remember, didn’t happen,” Lance denied, causing Keith’s eye to twitch even more violently. “So, what happened to Sendak?”

“He’s frozen in a cryo-pod. We’re keeping him here in the Castle,” Allura answered.

Lance quirked an eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”  
  
“He’s too dangerous to be set free. Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him.”

“So, what’s the plan now?” Lance wanted to know.

Hunk replied, “We have to get back to the Balmera and save Shay and her people.”

The Yellow Paladin had advised the team of what had transpired on the Balmera when he and Coran had obtained a Power Crystal. He was determined to return and help the Balmeran female and her people after they had risked the wrath of the Galra to help Hunk and Coran escape.

Lance gave Hunk a knowing look. “Wow! You’re really hung up on this lady.”

Hunk blushed as he vehemently denied that his intentions towards Shay were romantic. Rather, he wanted to make sure that the Balmerans knew that not everybody would treat them the way that Zarkon and the Galra had – that instead of taking without giving anything back, Allura and Team Voltron would return to show the Balmerans their appreciation for all they had offered.

“ _This_ is what being a Paladin of Voltron is all about. It’s time to man up.”

You noticed Pidge frown at Hunk’s comment.

Shiro nodded his agreement of Hunk’s statement. “Then let’s get moving. Time to go defend the universe.”

As everyone moved to leave the Dining Hall, Pidge stopped all of you. “Wait, I have something to say first. I need to come clean and… I’m afraid this may change the way you all think about me.”

Looking scared, the tiny teen took a deep breath. “Just so there are no secrets between us anymore, I can’t ‘man up’… I’m a girl.”

Lance looked flabbergasted at Pidge’s admission. She hurried to continue. “I-I mean, I can ‘man up’ because that’s just a figure of speech. I don’t have to actually be a man to ‘man up’. I just have to be tough. But what I’m saying…”

Lance spluttered. “Huh… Eh… What…?! You’re a _girl? HOW!?”_

“I’ve known for some time, but I’m glad you’ve shared it with everyone,” Allura smiled softly.

“I’ve known since you told us that Commander Holt was your dad,” you said, embracing Pidge in a warm hug.

Hunk nodded. “Yeah, I figured.”  
  
“Oh, yeah, me too.” Keith looked completely unfazed by Pidge’s announcement. His thoughts, however, betrayed his confusion.

_‘Liar. You had no idea, did you?’_ you thought at your life-bonded.

_‘None at all,’_ Keith admitted _. ‘I just assumed Pidge hadn’t had a growth spurt yet.’_

_‘Kind of like you, huh?’_

_‘Ha ha, very funny.’_ Keith’s lack of height in comparison to the other men on the team, especially Lance, was a particularly sore spot for the raven-haired teen.

Coran looked puzzled. “Wait, we were supposed to think you were a _boy?”_

Shiro seemed proud. “Pidge, owning who you are is going to make you a better Paladin.”  
  
Pidge sighed with relief. “It’s good to get that off my chest. Now, let’s launch this Castleship!”

Lance stood staring at everyone in complete bewilderment. “Wait, _what?_ Pidge is a _girl_ and the Castle is a _ship?_ How long have I been out?”

You laughingly linked your arms with him as you brought him up to speed on everything that had happened since the Galra had attacked the Castle.

**************************************

Hunk was nervously pacing the Castle Bridge. “Okay. So, when we get there, what do you think? Do we just roll up and like, start blasting? Or do we land and have some… kind of public address system, like, _‘Attention, Galras. This is Voltron. Turn yourselves in’!_ ”

He looked around at all of you. “No. Blasting, right?”  
  
“Hunk, calm down,” Keith replied. “And yes, blasting.”

You rolled your eyes. “Why is that always your first answer to everything?”  
  
“What?” He looked at you innocently. “I like fighting.”

Shiro smiled indulgently at Hunk. “Eh, it’s our first big rescue mission. He’s excited.”  
  
“Excited to see his new _girlfriend,”_ Pidge teased, eager to turn the tables on Hunk for his relentless teasing about the girl in her photo – which had turned out to be Pidge, posing with her older brother, Matt.

Hunk gasped, then retorted rather defensively, “She’s not my girlfriend! She’s just a rock that I met and I admire very much.”

Without warning, an unusual alarm started beeping.

“What is it? Are we being attacked?” Shiro asked with a worried frown.

“No, it seems to be a distress beacon,” Allura replied, checking the console. “It’s coming from a nearby moon. Apparently, a ship has lost power.”

“I wonder who it is,” you said.

“Whoever it is will have to wait. Shay has first priority. We can check back on them when we’re done,” Hunk insisted.

“The Paladin Code states that we must help all those in need,” Allura contradicted him.

“Wow! This is so cool,” Lance exclaimed. “It’s like we’re space cops on space patrol. Coran, do we have a siren we can turn on?”

“Uh, no, but we could record you making a siren noise and broadcast that to them,” the Altean replied indulgently.

“Perfect!” Lance immediately tried to imitate a siren, and you just as quickly placed a hand over his mouth to silence him.

“No, not doing that.” You looked at him sternly, ignoring his pout.

Shiro and the others gave you a grateful smile.

With an evil glint in his eye, Lance licked your palm, causing you to wipe it on your shirt in disgust. He cackled as you chased him around the Castle bridge while yelling at him to stop running so you could punch him. The rest of the team grinned at the pair of you indulgently, enjoying your antics.

All except one, who glared with jealous disapproval at the attention you paid to the Blue Paladin.

**************************************

Looking at the stranded aircraft, Allura opened the communication channel. “Attention, damaged craft. This is Princess Allura. We are coming to assist you.”

After instructing Coran to remain in the Castle and attempt to rid it of any residual energy that might remain from the Galra crystal, Allura led the team to the surface of the moon, where two aliens were waiting.

“You don’t know how glad we are to see some friendly faces,” the male greeted you. “Most folks don’t want to get tangled up with anyone who’s on the run from the Galra.”

“So, you guys are fighting the Galra?” Keith queried, his voice tinged with suspicion.

You and Hunk also stared warily at the two aliens. Something about them seemed slightly off, but you couldn’t put your finger on anything specific. Just… a feeling.

“Well, I don’t think Zarkon is exactly quaking in his boots at the three of us, but we do what we can. I’m Rolo,” he introduced himself. Pointing to his companions, he continued. “This is Nyma, and our cyber-unit, Beezer.”

“Hi,” Nyma murmured. Lance blushed at the pretty alien female.

“Cool robot!” Pidge squealed, practically bouncing around the little droid as she inspected it. If you didn’t keep an eye on her, she’d probably find a way to smuggle it aboard the Castleship.

Lance walked over to Nyma and took her hand in his, pressing a quick kiss to the back of it. Your eyes rolled so far in your head you almost saw your brain. “Hi! Name’s Lance.”

_‘Can he ever NOT flirt with every woman he sees?’_ Keith thought irritably. He was still annoyed at the closeness you shared with Lance, even as he tried to ignore the reasons for just why it bothered him so much.

_‘Nope. He is absolutely incapable of turning off flirtation mode if there’s a female within a fifty mile radius.’_ Your thought was just as huffy, causing Keith to look at you in surprise. It was rare that you were ever upset with your best friend. Perhaps your feelings for Lance ran deeper than he’d realised. That thought just made him even more aggravated, and he made a mental note to beat the heck out of Lance the next time he sparred with him.

“Was your ship damaged in a fight?” Shiro inquired.

“Yeah, we’ve really been through it with the Galra,” Rolo replied. “Parts are hard to come by. Luckily, we were able to limp to this moon about a week ago. If you didn’t pick up our distress signal, I don –”

“We’re happy to help,” Allura interrupted. “I am Princess Allura of Altea and from now on, you won’t be alone fighting the Galra. You’ll have the Paladins of Voltron by your side.”

Rolo looked over all of you, comparing the serious demeanours of the princess, Shiro, Keith, Hunk and yourself to the far more playful attitudes of Lance and Pidge. He didn’t appear to be impressed. “…Okay.”

“I don’t think they’ve heard of us,” you muttered.

“It _has_ been ten thousand years,” Keith reminded you.

“Voltron? Five robot Lions that combine into this big robot… guy?” Lance explained helpfully.

“Sounds impressive. I’d love to see it. Or-or him. Them.” Rolo’s sudden change in attitude at the description of Voltron set off alarm bells in your mind.

Hunk also seemed cautious of the alien’s motives. “Why don’t we just get to work on your ship? I’m sure we all have places to be.”

Rolo seemed taken aback at Hunk’s less than friendly attitude. “Sure.”

Opening up his spacecraft, Rolo said, “Pretty much our whole flaxum assembly is shot. I don’t know what kind of extra parts you carry in this rig of yours. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”  
  
You noticed that Lance was continuing to flirt with Nyma, and it irritated you for some reason. You gave him a smack, telling him to focus on the job at hand. He pouted at you, but turned his attention briefly away from the pretty alien.

“I’m sure we can get you back up and running,” Allura told Rolo. “Give Hunk a list of what you need. Coran can show you where to find it.”

“Okay,” Hunk agreed.

“We’ll go with you. Don’t want you to have to carry all that yourself. Come on, guys,” Rolo said, turning to move towards the Castle of Lions.

Hunk stopped him. “Uh, I don’t think so. You can just wait out here.”  
  
“Hunk, don’t be rude.” Allura sounded appalled at Hunk’s lack of manners.

“Yeah, mind your manners. There are ladies present,” Lance said, with a wink at Nyma, who giggled. You sighed. Your friend was absolutely impossible if there was a pretty girl within eyesight.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Hunk, sounding anything but sorry. “Oh, but does anyone remember the last time we let our defences down? Someone kind of set off a bomb. Remember, Lance? You were almost killed.”

“Oh, yeah…” Lance’s shoulders slumped.

“Hunk’s right,” Shiro agreed. “Sorry, but we have to be cautious.”

“Hey, I don’t take it personal,” Rolo replied. “That’s how it is out here. You’ve got to look out for your own. You’re doing a good job, big man.”  
  
Hunk impassively took the list of parts from Rolo. “Yeah, thanks.”

As Hunk returned to the Castle for the necessary parts, Rolo sat with you, Allura, Shiro and Keith. Pidge was still busy fussing over the droid, and Lance was continuing to flirt with Nyma.

“My planet was destroyed by the Galra and I was taken captive,” Rolo advised. “I managed to escape, but not before I lost something.” He lifted the leg of his trousers to reveal a prosthetic leg.

“I know exactly how that feels,” Shiro responded, glancing at his prosthetic arm somewhat self-consciously.

Hunk dragged a hovercart full of parts over to where you all were seated. “Well, I hope there are some parts in here that’ll fit.”

At Rolo’s lack of response, Hunk continued. “… You know, to get your ship moving?”

“Great! Thanks.” Rolo didn’t seem overly eager to commence repairs on his ship. Your eyes narrowed at him in suspicion.

“So, what can you tell us about Zarkon’s forces? Where are they concentrated?” Allura asked.

“Well, his Command Ship sits right in the centre of the Empire. He mostly calls the shots from there and has his minions do the work, depending on who’s closest. This is the territory of a real nasty bugger named Sendak.”  
  
“Oh, we’ve met,” Keith snarled. His temper flared at the memory of Sendak’s treatment of you, Lance and Shiro. The thought of the Galra General putting his hands on you filled him with rage. You slipped your hand into his and squeezed it gently, reminding him that you were now safe from the sadistic Galra, and he calmed down slightly.

“How far are we from the centre?” Shiro asked.

“We’re way out on the fringes,” Rolo told him.

Hunk walked back over. “Hey, sorry to interrupt, but I think you guys are kind of keeping Rolo from working. It’s just that we’re in a hurry. A hero named Shay saved my life, and I swore I would return to do the same for her and her people. You understand.”

Hunk’s disgruntled tone of voice indicated that he didn’t really care whether Rolo understood or not.

The alien placed a hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “Sure. Sorry.” He walked over to the hovercart and began inspecting the parts contained within.

Shiro approached the Yellow Paladin. “Hunk, we’re going to get going soon, but I think Rolo might have some information that could be helpful to us.”

“Not for nothin’, but I don’t trust this guy as far as I can throw him. I think we ought to leave him with the box of parts and just say, _‘Adios, amigo’_ …"

“Hey, bud!” Rolo called. “Sorry, but do you think you could hunt down a length of thermal pipe about yay long?” He gestured a short length with his hands.

Hunk groaned and stood reluctantly. “On the way.”

Once Hunk had left, the rest of you approached Rolo. “So, are there more freedom fighters? Any kind of organised resistance to the Galra?” Shiro inquired.

“Only folks who haven’t been colonised yet, or the lucky few, like us, who managed to escape somehow,” Rolo responded.

“Well, we’re going to change all that,” Keith declared confidently.

Rolo seemed sceptical. “That’s good to hear, but I’ve got to warn you, it’s pretty bad out there. You don’t know what you’re up against.”

Suddenly, you heard the Blue Lion powering up, and stared with dismay as Lance took off with Nyma.

“Oh, Lance!” you cried in frustration.

Hunk stopped working on Rolo’s ship and glared at the fast disappearing Blue Lion, then shared a knowing glance with you.

“Ah, let them have their fun,” Rolo said dismissively. You glared at him, which didn’t appear to bother him in the slightest. If anything, your blatant distrust appeared to amuse him. Walking up to Hunk, he continued, “Thanks to you, this thing is just about ready, so we’re going to be on our way soon. Too many light years on that guy, I guess.”

Hunk turned his suspicious gaze to the part he had just replaced. “Yeah.”

**************************************

You were starting to feel concerned at the length of time that Lance and Nyma had been gone, but before you could express your reservations to the team, Rolo finished tinkering with the engine of his ship.

“I think this thing is just about ready for a test flight. Beezer, come co-pilot for me. Be back in a tick.” He and the little droid entered the ship, as the team stared after them, dumbfounded.

“Uh…” Hunk started.

The spacecraft took off with no obvious issues, but failed to return. The team continued to wait outside the Castle of Lions for what seemed an extraordinary length of time.

“How many ticks have they been gone?” Pidge asked.  
  
“I don’t know,” Allura replied in a worried tone. “I hope they didn’t break down again.”

“Something ain’t right,” Hunk insisted.

Suddenly, you heard Lance’s frantic voice sound through the helmet comms. “Guys? Hello? Little help?”  
  
“Lance? Lance! Are you all right? What’s going on?” you demanded as you put your helmet back on.

“Well, I’m kind of chained to a… a tree,” he admitted sheepishly.

“I knew it!” Hunk hissed.

“And I think Nyma and Rolo just stole the Blue Lion,” Lance continued despondently.

_“I knew it!”_

“Where are they?” Shiro asked urgently.

“Uh… space?” Lance replied hesitantly.

You snorted derisively. _‘Thank you, Lance. Very insightful.’_

Keith glanced at you, his mouth set in a grim line.

“Uh, I never trusted those guys, right from the beginning!” Hunk ranted as the team headed to their Lions. “I mean, y’know, at first, it was just like a _feeling_ in my gut, you know? But when I was replacing that thermal pipe, the pipe was cracked, but none of the hardware around it was damanged.”

“Okay, we get it,” Keith retorted.

“I mean, if the thermal pipe is cracked, then, obviously, _hello_ , the entire assembly should be totally roasted.”

“Okay! We get it!” Keith repeated, slightly more testily.

Hunk continued to rant as if Keith hadn’t spoken. “We should’ve had to replace the entire undercarriage of that reactor. So, right then, I was, like, positive. Foul play.”

In unison, the entire team yelled, “OKAY, WE GET IT!”

Seeming appeased that everyone agreed that he was right, Hunk ceased talking as everyone took off in pursuit of the thieving aliens.

**************************************

The Lions caught up with Rolo’s spacecraft just as he headed into an asteroid belt.

“We’ll never get through this asteroid field!” Pidge exclaimed.

“Maybe I can just bust through!” Hunk yelled. He slammed the Yellow Lion into an asteroid, which only caused all the surrounding asteroids to bump against each other. “Nope. That was wrong. That was a bad idea.”

Shiro’s voice sounded desperate. “Keith, you’re the only one who could possibly fly through this. We need you, buddy. Get in there and flush him out.”

Keith’s mouth set with grim determination. “You got it. See you on the other side.”

He winked at you. “Hang on, sweetheart.”

Pushing the thrusters to full speed, Keith steered the Red Lion easily through the asteroid belt, his instincts allowing him to easily avoid the asteroids despite the speed at which you were travelling. You admired his natural skill that allowed the two of you to pursue the fleeing thieves.

As Red caught up to the transport, you noticed that their blasters were charging up and ready to open fire on you. “Keith, blasters!”

He dodged the attack from the other craft easily. You fired the Red Lion’s mouth cannon in retaliation as Keith pushed the Lion even faster, gaining on the aliens.

As you neared the spacecraft, it deviated at the last minute, obviously in the hopes that Keith would crash into the approaching asteroid. However, they hadn’t counted on his superior piloting skills. Not for nothing had Keith been considered the most talented pilot of your generation. He easily avoided the trap and flung the Red Lion’s jaw blade at the other ship, disabling its weapons.

Rolo was still attempting to flee, but you once again fired the Lion’s mouth cannon at their engines, knocking the ship out of the asteroid belt. Keith caught the thieves, Red’s claws sinking into the ship’s hull, just as the rest of the team arrived.

“Great flying, Keith,” you congratulated him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. He puffed out his chest proudly at your praise even as his face reddened with embarrassment at your unconsciously affectionate gesture.

“Yeah! Haha! Hey, Lance, I got your Lion back,” he gleefully informed the Blue Paladin through the helmet comms.

“Thank you, Keith,” Lance replied happily. “Now, can you come and unchain me?”

Keith grinned at you as he retorted playfully, “What’s that? I, uh… Y-You’re cutting out. I can’t – I can’t hear you.”

“Oh, come on! I thought we bonded!” Lance cried plaintively. “Keith? Buddy? My man?”

“You’re terrible,” you whispered to your partner, trying unsuccessfully to smother your own grin. There was a tiny part of you that secretly thought that Lance had deserved what had happened to him.

“Serves him right for not remembering our bonding moment,” Keith replied snootily, even as he turned Red in the direction where your stranded team-mate was awaiting his rescue.

**************************************

Once the team had retrieved Lance from his predicament, you returned to the alien moon, depositing Rolo and his crew with their broken ship.

You crossed your arms over your chest, gazing stonily at the pair of criminals. “Since your ship _really_ doesn’t work now, you’ll have to wait here for a rescue.”

Rolo looked ashamed. “Thanks… for sparing our lives."

“Now that these guys are dealt with, let’s get to the Balmera and save Shay and her family,” Hunk said impatiently.

Rolo gave everyone another apologetic look. “You may not believe this, but I hope you do stop Zarkon. It’s a lifetime of fighting the Galra that led me to where I am today.”  
  
You all returned his gaze with sceptical ones of your own, before returning to the Castle of Lions without a word. You left Rolo and Nyma staring after the Castleship as you headed to the Balmera to help Hunk’s friends.


	9. Fire and Ice and Some Things That Are Not So Nice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team returns to the Balmera to free the local population, but the sudden arrival of a Galra ship forces Voltron into action. Keith and Lance discover some exciting new additions to their Lions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter corresponds with Series 1 Episode 7, “Return to the Balmera”.

The team stood on the Bridge of the Castle of Lions as it approached the Balmera.

“We’ll be arriving at the Balmera soon,” Allura informed you. “Liberating these Balmerans from Zarkon’s grasp will not be easy.”  
  
“So, what’s the plan? We go in there and just – _Pow, pow, pow!_ ” Lance imitated laser fire as he held up finger guns. “ – And free the prisoners?”

“What was that noise?” Keith asked, his face betraying his bewilderment.

“Laser guns,” the Blue Paladin replied, as if the answer should have been obvious.

“No, Lance, I think you mean – ” Hunk held out his arms and imitated a huge laser cannon. “ – _Pow! Pow! Pow!_ ”

“That sounds like fireworks,” you said critically, before demonstrating your own laser guns, pointing them in Keith’s direction. “It’s more like, _pew pew pew!_ ”

Your life-bonded partner stared at you as if he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at your foolishness, while you just grinned at him.

“Technically, they’re more like – _ba-choo, ba-choo, ba-choo!_ ” Pidge said as she imitated firing a small laser gun.

Shiro gave all of you what you had dubbed his ‘serious Space Dad’ face as he looked at each of you sternly. “Okay, enough with the bad sound effects.”  
  
Keith’s relief at having an allegedly sensible adult around was short lived.

“Besides, it’s more like – _blam, blam, blam!_ ” Shiro dropped dramatically to one knee, firing a laser gun while Keith stared at him in dismay.

“What?” Keith asked your leader in confusion.

“You’re crazy,” Pidge said with a shake of her head.

“No way,” Lance scoffed.

“Pfffft,” you snorted.

“Nuh, wrong,” Hunk disagreed.

Allura looked at everyone sternly. “Paladins, focus.”  
  
“Besides, we can’t just shoot at the Galra. This Balmera, it’s, like, alive,” Hunk reminded you all. “And from what we’ve seen, it doesn’t look very good.”

Coran nodded his head soberly. “Yes, it’s an atrocity what the Galra have been doing to this grand beast. Stealing its Crystals, its very life force, without ever performing the energy rejuvenation ceremonies to heal it.”

Your heart ached when you thought of the poor creature being so badly abused by your enemy.

Hunk continued. “After seeing Shay’s people enslaved, it made me realise how bad Zarkon really is. And we’re the only ones who can stop him.”  
  
Shiro nodded. “Okay, so we can’t go into the tunnels guns blazing. Plan B. We figure out how to draw the Galra up to the surface and battle them out there.”

“Wait! I know!” Hunk cried as inspiration struck. “If we attack all of this big mining stuff on the surface, the Galra troops will have to come out to defend it. Then we beat them up, head down to the tunnels, Voltron saves the day.”

“But how will we know how many are left down in the tunnels?” you queried.

“We can track the Galra and the Balmerans using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology,” Allura responded, bringing up a hologram of a drone.

Pidge’s eye lit up. “Oh, BLIP tech!” As everyone stared at her blankly, she explained that it was an acronym of the name Allura had used for the technology.

Allura spoke again, as she brought up a hologram to demonstrate the plan. “One of you will need to fly around the Balmera and drop sensors into the shafts on each side. Then we’ll be able to see where the Galra and the Balmerans are. There are already sensors built into your suits.”

“I can do it,” Pidge announced confidently. “I just modified the Green Lion with the invisible maze’s cloaking ability. I should be able to fly around unnoticed.”

Coran brought up an image of the Balmera’s surface on the screen. “That’s their main power generator. If you take that down, it will severely weaken their defences.”

“We’ll stay in cloud cover and give tactical support,” Allura continued. “With the Castle’s defences weakened from Sendak’s Crystal, we won’t be of much help to you.”

Shiro nodded, then pointed to the holographic image of the Balmera. “I’ll take out the power generator. Keith, Y/N, Lance, Hunk, you take out these big mining rigs around the area.”  
  
“Yeah! Okay, let’s do this! Let’s go kick some alien butt!” You had never seen Hunk so enthusiastic about anything since you had all initially found the Lions.

**************************************

As the Paladins were preparing to launch, you heard Lance’s voice. “You think the Balmerans will have a parade for us after we’ve freed everybody?”

You sent a video transmission to Lance. “It’s not about the glory, Lance. It’s about freeing prisoners from Zarkon,” you reminded him sternly.

“No, I know. I know. But still. When they…” His voice cut off with a shriek as the Blue Lion launched swiftly from the Castleship.

As the Lions flew towards the Balmera’s surface, they were fired upon by the Galra structures below.

“This is it,” Shiro said. “Get your heads in the game. Remember, the Balmera is a living creature. Make sure you pinpoint only the Galra installations and not its surface.”

“Initiating cloak,” Pidge murmured. The Green Lion separated from the group and turned invisible so that she would be able to drop the BLIP drones on the Balmera. You felt a rush of pride at your clever little friend.

Lance and Hunk started firing at the Galra structures, destroying them. Keith whistled appreciatively as you noticed the Black Lion produce a jaw blade, which Shiro used to destroy the main power generator.

Pidge informed you that all the BLIP sensors had been delivered, just as the power generator fired its – unfortunately still active, and very massive – laser cannon at the Red Lion. Keith dodged the laser, and both of you were stunned when Red fired a heat ray from its mouth to melt through the cannon’s tower.

“Did you know it could do that?” You turned your astonished gaze turned to your partner.

“Not a clue. But it’s awesome!" Keith contacted the others, his tone gloating. "Did you guys just see that? We got fire power!”

“Hey! I want that!” Lance whined.

Your excitement at the Lion’s new power turned to despair as you pointed towards the cannon tower, which was now beginning to fall towards the surface of the Balmera.

“Oh, no!” Keith cried, suddenly overwhelmed by guilt.

Hunk raced towards the tower, hoping that the Yellow Lion would be able to prop it up; however, it soon became apparent that he was struggling.

“I think my Lion knows what to do!” Lance cried excitedly, as the Blue Lion headed towards the tower. The Lion shot what appeared to be a freeze ray at the tower, as it was immediately engulfed in ice which prevented it from collapsing any further.

“Aw, _snap!_ These rays are super cool, just like me!” Lance whooped. You giggled as Keith rolled his eyes, his default reaction whenever Lance did something even slightly impressive.

“Great job, team!” Shiro congratulated everyone.

To the team’s surprise, there was no corresponding fire from the Galra. It immediately raised your suspicions.

It appeared Keith also had misgivings about the lack of retaliation from your enemy. “Where are all the troops? They’re not coming to the surface.”

You received a video transmission from Hunk. “Yeah, I remember seeing a lot of Galra guys down in the mines.”

Allura’s voice sounded over the comms. “We’ve located a hangar full of Galra fighters just below the surface. Someone has to take those out before they can launch.”  
  
“They’re luring us down, but we have no choice,” Shiro decided. “Keith, Y/N, Lance, you three hit the hangar. Hunk, head down to the prison to rescue Shay and the other Balmerans. Pidge and I will track down the Galra soldiers.”

“Yes, Sir!” you and Keith agreed in unison.

“Ten-four!” sounded Lance.

Pidge cried, “On it!”

“Let’s do this!” Hunk cheered.

**************************************

Keith and Lance parked Red and Blue at the bottom of the mine shafts, then grabbed the speeders to navigate through the tunnels of the Balmera. You hopped on the speeder behind Keith, keeping an eye out for enemy sentries. The boys made their way to the hangar, and the three of you scoped out the situation.

“The entire hangar’s only being guarded by a few sentries,” Keith said, his Bayard at the ready. “Let’s go!”

Before he could rush the hangar, though, Lance grabbed him and pulled him back. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Cool your jets, Keith! Don’t you remember all that stuff about this Balmera thing being a sensitive animal?”

“Oh. Right.” Keith looked embarrassed at having forgotten such an important detail.

“Yeah, so we can’t just blow things up like a psycho,” Lance continued, which had the immediate effect of causing Keith to see red.

“Oh, you got a better idea?”

Lance nodded. “I do. We sneak into the control room to shut down the bay doors. That’ll trap the ships in.”

“That – ! … Actually… is a better idea.” Keith’s natural instinct to oppose Lance gave way to a reluctant admission that the Blue Paladin had actually provided a much better tactical solution.

“He does have good ideas on occasion,” you said as you tickled underneath Lance’s chin affectionately, causing him to blush and Keith’s jealousy to surge. This of course meant that, despite their efforts to cooperate, the two of them continued to argue over the tiniest things as the three of you snuck towards the hangar’s control room.

“No, no. It’s over there,” Lance said, as Keith headed in the wrong direction.

“I know what I’m doing,” Keith insisted.

It took all of your strength of will not to bash their heads together.

As you reached the control room, Keith transformed his Bayard into its katana form, slicing a hole in the in the floor beneath his feet, which happened to be located directly above a Galra sentry on the level below. Lance kicked the hole open, crushing the sentry beneath the weight of the piece of ceiling dropping directly on top of it. The three of you slid through the hole into the control room.

“Keep an eye out for those guards. I’ll see if I can find a way to shut the hangar doors,” Lance told you.

You nodded, then you and Keith both stood watch.

Lance stood at the computer console, inspecting it carefully. “Uh… Hmm. Nope. Maybe. Uh… Uh… Mm…” He pressed several buttons, which did absolutely nothing. “Ah, I don’t know what I’m doing here! It’s all Galra gibberish.”

“Let me see.” Keith pushed Lance aside as you continued to keep an eye out for further sentries. He looked over the console, and then put his hand on the sensor pad, activating the bay doors and causing them to close.

“Whoa! How’d you do that?” Lance asked.

Keith seemed just as perplexed. “I… just put my hand on the hand print.”

Just as the doors shut, Allura’s voice came through the comms. “Paladins, are you there? The Galra troops are moving down the tunnels. It looks like they’re heading towards the centre.”

“They must be heading to the core of the Balmera. That’s where they’re holding Shay.” Hunk sounded angrier than you had ever heard him.

You heard Shiro’s voice. “They’re drawing us into an ambush, but we don’t have a choice if we want to save Shay. We have to follow. Lance, Keith, Y/N, get to the core. I think we’re going to need everyone to get through this firefight.”

“Copy that. We’re on our way,” you confirmed. Keith destroyed the computer console with his katana, and Lance shot the lock to the door with his rifle so that no Galra could access it. The three of you hurried through the tunnels to try to find the others.

As the Balmera began to shake and groan, you heard Pidge’s voice through the communication channel. “Hey, team, be careful. The Balmera is very unstable.”

Just as she finished speaking, you ran into a squad of Galra sentries that immediately began bombarding you with laser fire.

“Their shooting is destroying the Balmera!” you cried, as the creature moaned in pain. You hid behind a mining structure, as Keith and Lance also took cover.

“We gotta do something!” Keith said.

“Well, we can’t shoot back!” Lance argued. “It’ll just make it worse.”

He looked around, and you noticed the instant he had come up with a plan. He motioned to the two of you, making a series of complicated gestures.

Keith stared at him in confusion. He looked around, trying to understand what Lance was attempting to convey without words. His face lit up as he figured out Lance’s intention, and he climbed a nearby ladder in order to sneak above the sentries. You did likewise once Keith had reached the top, and he grabbed your hand to pull you up beside him.

Without warning, Lance jumped out in front of the Galra sentries, waving his arms and jumping crazily. “Na-na, na-na, boo-boo!”

The sentries fired at Lance, and he defended himself with his shield. While the Galra were distracted, you and Keith pounced on them from above. You attacked with your staff, and Keith slashed at them with his katana, and after a short fight you had destroyed them. Lance gave the two of you a thumbs up, and the three of you grinned at the joint effort.

Teamwork really did pay off.

**************************************

The three of you arrived at the core in time to see Hunk remove Shay’s restraints. Shiro asked where the Galra were. “If this is an ambush, they should be here waiting for us,” the Black Paladin noted.

As you reached the others, the doors to the core suddenly slammed shut.

“Not an ambush,” replied Hunk nervously. “More like a trap.”

“Whatever it is, keep your guard up,” Keith advised.

“The Galra, they gained knowledge that you would return to the Balmera,” Shay told you.

“How?” Pidge demanded.

“I know not,” replied the Balmeran sadly. “But they set this trap just for you. I was the bait.”  
  
You stood with your hands on your hips and an aggrieved expression on your face. “Who could have possibly known that we were heading here to save Shay?”

“Rolo!” Hunk cried, remembering the alien thieves who had so recently stolen the Blue Lion. “Those liars must have told Zarkon.”

“We have to figure out how to get out of here,” Shiro mused.

“Wait! We have a giant Castleship hovering in the sky,” Lance said. “Allura, can you please come get us?”  
  
“How do you expect her to do that, genius?” Keith asked with disdain.

“I don’t know, maybe they got teleporters or something,” Lance retorted.

“We are quite occupied at the moment!” Allura replied, sounding extremely frazzled. “We’re completely surrounded by Galra ships and we’re taking heavy fire!”

Coran’s voice sounded frantic. “Princess, our particle barrier won’t last much longer!”

“Paladins, you need to get out of there as soon as you can!” Allura instructed.

Lance’s face fell. “This is it! We’re going to die in here. I can say bye-bye to that parade.”

Shiro and the others looked at him, unimpressed, although you felt a tiny twinge of sympathy for your normally happy-go-lucky friend.

“Get it together, guys,” Shiro ordered. “Allura, we’ll get there as soon as we can.”

Shay seemed to consider something. “Perhaps my people can help get us out.”

She placed her hand on the Balmera’s core. “This is how we communicate. The Balmera senses our vibrations and sends a message to those in the tunnels.”

Keith raised an eyebrow, clearly sceptical of this method of communication. “Are you sure someone will be able to hear your… hand from all the way down here?”  
  
Shay nodded confidently. “The Balmera _will_ deliver the message.”

The area around Shay’s hand glowed, and the Balmera groaned as it sent the message to the other Balmerans.

Allura’s voice once more came through the comms. “Paladins, the Lions are in danger! You must get back to them immediately!”

As the team watched in awe of Shay’s connection to the Balmera, Allura spoke again. “Paladins, do you copy? A Galra battlecruiser has locked onto the Castle. If it fires its ion cannon, I don’t know if we can survive.”

Lance was the only one to respond. “We’re trying, Allura. Shay’s pressing her hand against the wall, which apparently sends vibrations to the other rock people, who vibrate back or something? Hand talking? I guess the answer to your question is, _‘Yes, we copy’_.”

“Shay, are you sure the Balmera is sending your message?” Shiro asked, a note of urgency in his voice.

Suddenly, the doorway to the core was crushed, opening it to reveal Shay’s family on the other side. She ran to meet them, and her brother insisted that everyone hurry, as the Balmerans knew of a shortcut through the tunnels.

“Allura, stand by. We’re on our way up,” Shiro advised the princess as the team raced to their speeders.

“Paladins, hurry! They’re taking off with the Lions!”

Shiro launched his speeder towards the Black Lion, which was caught in a tractor beam between two Galra fighter jets. A small hole in the force field opened, allowing Shiro to slip inside the Black Lion and free it from the Galra.

“Guys, did everyone make it to the Lions in time?” Shiro called out.

“Come on, Shiro,” Lance answered. You could hear the eye roll in his voice. “Who do you think you’re dealing with, a bunch of amateurs… ”

His voice was cut off as the Blue Lion ran into a mining structure.

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Shiro asked sarcastically.

“No,” Lance said in a small voice.

“Let’s go!” Shiro cried.

All five Lions flew towards the large fleet of Galra fighter jets, immediately engaging in the battle with their mouth cannons. Keith utilised the heat ray that you had so recently discovered on the Red Lion, and Lance seemed to be enjoying the chance to blast the Galra with the freeze ray on Blue.

Hunk was using the sturdy body of the Yellow Lion to smash the Galra, but his slow speed in comparison to the other Lions meant that he was much more vulnerable to attack from above. Pidge shielded the Yellow Lion from laser fire with the back shield on the Green Lion, while Shiro used the Black Lion’s jaw blade to destroy the fighter jets.

Hunk expressed his gratitude just as the Galra warship fired its ion cannon at the particle barrier protecting the Castleship.

Allura’s voice rang out urgently. “Paladins, I need you immediately! Five more ticks and we’re finished!”

“Okay, team, let’s form Voltron!” Shiro ordered.

The Five Lions converged, and Voltron slammed into the Galra warship, diverting its cannon from the Castleship. Allura fired the Castle’s blasters through the Galra fleet. The warship tilted and its hull was exposed, making it extremely vulnerable. The princess seized her advantage, firing the blaster at the warship one more time. It ran straight through the warship, completely decimating it, causing the surrounding fighter jets to be destroyed in the resulting explosion.

Voltron landed on the surface of the Balmera, as Allura carefully landed the Castle of Lions nearby.

“Mission accomplished,” Keith declared.

“And just in the tick of time,” Allura replied. “The Castle’s defences are battered and will need to fully recharge.”  
  
Just as she finished speaking, the Castle alarms started blaring. Coran stared at the screen. “There’s an unknown object incoming! It’s about to crash into the Balmera!”  
  
“What the heck is _that?_ ” Lance cried in alarm as you watched the alien ship hurtling towards the Balmera’s surface.

Shiro looked grimmer than you’d ever seen him. “Trouble.”


	10. Why Can't These Monsters Just Stay Dead?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins struggle to defeat the latest monster sent by the Galra, and Allura hopes that her ancient powers are enough to save the dying Balmera and its people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter relates to Series 1 Episode 8 “Rebirth”

Voltron stood on the surface of the Balmera, with the team waiting tensely to see what sort of atrocity would emerge from the ship which had just crashed.

“Please tell me there’s not a giant monster in there,” Hunk begged. “Please tell me it’s empty! Or full of space candy. One of those two. Either one is fine.”  
  
“I don’t think it’s a piñata, Hunk,” Lance regretfully informed him.

“If it’s the same kind of monster that attacked us on Arus, we already know how to beat it,” Keith said confidently. He used his Bayard to summon Voltron’s saber, whilst Pidge armed the giant robot’s shield.

“Hold your ground!” Shiro barked.

You stared in terror as a massive beast emerged from the transport ship, covered in numerous glowing eyes on its arms. Its lizard-like head turned towards Voltron, its blank eyes focussing on the Defender of the Universe. Without warning, it fired a powerful blast from the cannon on its chest, which knocked Voltron back a considerable distance, despite the shield that Pidge had summoned.

“It’s not candy!” Hunk groaned with disappointment.

“And it’s not the same monster!” Lance cried.

Shiro frantically dodged the next blast from the creature’s chest cannon. “We need to draw its fire away from the Balmera’s surface!”

Voltron flew over the surface of the Balmera in an attempt to lure the hideous thing away. It avoided the trap, however, and in an astonishing feat of agility, whipped around behind Voltron, evading the saber and striking the robot from behind. Pidge defended with the shield, but the beast’s chest cannon sent another powerful blast.

“We can’t hold out!” Lance yelled.

Pidge cried, “My Lion’s weakening! If the shield sustains structural damage, we’re done for!”

“Pidge is right!” Keith said.

“Oh, _Pidge_ is right,” Lance sneered. “I’m the one that said, _‘We can’t hold out’_!”

“Lance, watch your footing!” you exclaimed. Too late, unfortunately. Lance’s lack of focus meant that the Blue Lion tripped, causing Voltron to fall over. Voltron’s shield split in half, but luckily the giant robot managed to avoid being hit again by the creature.

“Okay, Team Voltron, disband!” Shiro ordered. The Lions split apart and began flying around individually. “Everyone, evasive manoeuvres! It can’t shoot us all at once!”

Unfortunately, that statement proved to be categorically false, as the beast spread its arms – which appeared to be covered in a multitude of laser cannons – and fired all of them upon each team member simultaneously.

“Okay, it can do that too,” Shiro grunted.

Keith gritted his teeth as he swerved Red away from the bombardment of laser fire. The other Paladins were also desperately scrambling their Lions away from the beast in an attempt to avoid being hit.

A sudden blast from the Castle hit the beast, causing it to stagger back and allow all of you to free yourselves from the constant onslaught of fire from the beast, but the relief was short-lived. The beast rallied itself enough to fire a massive blast of its own back at the Castle. Coran’s frantic voice advised that the particle barrier wasn’t going to be able to sustain much more of an assault from the creature.

“Keith, try to draw its fire!” Shiro directed. “I’m coming in from above!”

“Roger!” Keith engaged the Red Lion’s heat ray to try to draw the beast’s attention while Shiro was sneaking in from behind, preparing to fire upon it with the Black Lion’s mouth cannon. However, the monster was able to rotate one of its eye cannons around and fired a blast at Shiro. Thankfully, he managed to pull away at the last second to avoid being hit.

“We need to find its blind spot!” you yelled.

“I don’t think this thing _has_ a blind spot. It has a thousand eyes,” Pidge shrieked, her voice tinged with hysteria.

Hunk was frantically dodging the lasers in the Yellow Lion. “Laser eyes! Laser eyes!”

“What do we do?” Pidge asked desperately. “Fighting this thing is like fighting an entire fleet at once!”

“I think we’ve got to aim for those laser eyes and take them out,” Keith suggested.

Allura supported this decision, firing lasers from the Castle directly at the monster. It retaliated with an onslaught of laser fire against the particle barrier of the Castle, and Coran advised in a panicky voice that the spectral generator had been damaged, and that the Castle was now relying on reserve power. “Princess, the ship is being torn apart!”

“We’re taking heavy fire up here! We’re in trouble!” Allura cried.

“Princess, pull back! Get out of its range, now!” Shiro demanded.

“We will not abandon you!” came the princess’s objection.

“You’re not abandoning us. We’re about to pull back anyway,” Shiro told her.

Hunk sounded confused. “We are?”

“We can’t hold out. We have to,” Shiro said, the reluctance in his voice obvious. “Lions, to the mine shafts! It’s the only place the monster can’t get us.”  
  
“Roger that!” confirmed Pidge.

Allura confirmed that she was taking the Castleship into orbit, as the Paladins headed into the mine shafts of the Balmera.

**************************************

The Black, Red and Yellow Lions met Shay’s family at the bottom of a mine shaft. Lance and Pidge had headed in a different direction, and landed their Lions in another mine shaft.

Rax, Shay’s brother, asked, “What is happening?”

“There’s a monster up there that Zarkon sent to destroy us,” you informed them.

“A monster? Will Zarkon’s savagery never abate?” Shay’s despair was evident. “Perhaps our people were never meant to be free.”

“Shay, don’t give up,” Hunk encouraged the sweet Balmeran. “Zarkon’s power grows with every planet he conquers, but he’s weakened by every being that fights back.”

“Fight back? Against a monster like that? How?” she asked incredulously.

“I don’t know, but we can beat it. Tell her, Keith,” the Yellow Paladin pleaded.

“Can we?” Keith asked doubtfully.

“Yes, we can! This is our first mission and we’re not going to fail,” Shiro replied with determination in his voice. “We can beat it. We just need some time to come up with a plan.”

“See? Told you we can,” Hunk nodded at Shay and her family. “Thanks, Shiro.”

Before Shay could respond, the Balmera groaned in pain, and the mine shaft started trembling and crumbling underfoot.

“Do you guys feel that over there?” you asked Lance and Pidge, who were in a different section of the mines.

“Yeah, we feel it,” Lance confirmed grimly.

“It’s that sound again. What is that?” Pidge inquired.

Rax told you that the noise was emanating from the Balmera itself, as it was dying. Your eyes filled with tears. This poor creature was losing its life because of its mistreatment at the hands of the Galra, and the fight that the Paladins had just endured at the hands of the monstrous creature on the surface had obviously not helped. You felt an overwhelming sense of guilt at the thought of inflicting further pain on the Balmera.

Shiro tried to inform Allura of the Balmera’s predicament, but the princess was already aware as the Castle’s scanners showed the life energy of the creature draining away.

“Removing crystals from a Balmera is like removing a vital part of the mighty beast,” Coran advised solemnly. “The Balmera needs time to regenerate itself to stay healthy, but the Galra’s greed may have cost this noble Balmera its life.”

“So, what’s gonna happen?” Hunk asked.

“Its core will collapse, destabilising the entire skeletal structure. Anything or anyone remaining on the Balmera at that point will be crushed into dust.”

“How long before its core collapses?” you asked quietly, your heart breaking at the thought of the poor creature dying through no fault of its own.

“Probably a matter of hours,” Coran replied seriously. “The mighty organism willingly gives itself to all, but not all return its kindness.”  
  
“Then our time is short,” Allura said firmly. “We’ll evacuate the planet. We need to get all the Balmerans to the Castle of Lions before the planet implodes.”

“Okay, that sounds like a good plan, but how on Earth do you plan on landing the Castle with that monster-thingy on the surface?” Hunk reminded the princess of the atrocity still awaiting everyone on the surface of the Balmera.

“You’ll need a distraction,” Pidge interjected.

“We’ll engage the beast in our Lions,” Shiro decided. “With it distracted, Allura and Coran will land the Castle and load all of its citizens.”  
  
“Or we could load the Balmerans into our Lions a few at a time and shuttle them to the ship,” Lance suggested. “No engaging ferocious laser-eye guy. How long would that take?”  
  
“Days? Weeks?” Coran said.

“We only have hours,” Keith groaned with frustration.

“Look, we don’t need to beat this thing,” you told the team. “We just need to bait it away from the ship. Provoke and evade.”

Shiro and Keith nodded, both approving of your suggestion.

“Okay, here’s the thing,” Hunk said. “I’m worried that we’re going to be really, really good at the provoking part, and then like really bad at the evading part. But if – if this is what it takes to save Shay and everyone on the planet, then I’m in.”  
  
Keith looked at the Balmeran girl. “Can you contact the other Balmerans?”  
  
“I can, but I know not what they’ll say. Leave the planet? Our home?” Her reluctance to part from the only home she’d ever known was clear.

“It’s the only option,” Allura told her. “I’m coming down.”  
  
“Princess, no! It’s too dangerous!” Coran objected.

“Someone has to be there to lead these people out,” the princess insisted.

“You’re coming down?” Pidge squeaked. “That thing will spot your pod and blow it to pieces.”  
  
“Let me worry about that,” Allura replied firmly. “You just focus on keeping the creature distracted.”

With that, every Paladin returned to their Lion, and launched from the mine shafts to engage with the dreaded beast once more.

**************************************

It had been absolutely horrendous, and for several tense minutes you had been firmly convinced that you would never live to see another day, but the team had managed to distract the monstrosity that had been sent by the Galra long enough to allow Allura the time necessary to enter the mines and speak directly with the Balmerans in an attempt to have them leave the dying planet.

Eventually, Allura confirmed that the Balmerans were heading to the surface and requested that Coran commence readying the ship to evacuate.

“Castle of Lions, coming in! Paladins, how are you holding up?” Coran’s voice sounded far too cheerful, considering the circumstances.

Keith was too busy fighting the monster to answer, so you replied through gritted teeth, “I think we’ve got him pretty distracted! Are the Balmerans in position?”  
  
“They’re making their way to the top,” Allura assured him.

Unfortunately, just as the Castleship was landing, the Balmera began to rumble violently. The mine shaft began to crumble, causing rock slides to occur and trap many of the Balmerans below the surface.

“Every hit weakens the Balmera,” Hunk cried. “Have you evacuated yet? What’s happening?”  
  
“The Balmerans are trapped,” Coran responded. “Just keep distracting that beast!”  
  
“Uh, do you want us to distract it by _dying?_ Because that’s what’s going to happen!” Hunk yelled.

“Guys, remember when Y/N said we didn’t have to beat it?” Shiro reminded everyone.

“Yes, I remember that,” Hunk confirmed.

Shiro’s voice was apologetic. “Well, we might have to beat it.”

Everyone groaned, but scrambled to continue drawing the beast away from the Castle. It continued to bombard the Lions with laser fire, but the Lions were not having as much success with landing any damaging hits against it in return.

“Guys, this isn’t working. We’ll never take this beast down in our Lions,” Keith hissed.

Pidge retorted, “Well, forming Voltron didn’t work, either.”

“Not without some way to shoot all those laser eyes at once,” Lance pointed out.

Hunk’s voice sounded excited. “Guys! Guys, something’s happening here! I – I think there is a way to take down all those laser eyes at once.”

“Well, what is it?” you demanded.

“Do you remember how Voltron formed that sword with Keith’s Bayard? I think my Lion’s telling me I can do the same thing with _my_ Bayard.”  
  
Keith raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure?”  
  
“Let’s find out. Form thingy!” Hunk cried. Nothing happened. “It didn’t work!”

“Because we didn’t form Voltron yet,” you reminded him gently.

“Oh, right. Yeah, I know,” Hunk replied sheepishly.

“Guys, whatever we’re planning, let’s hurry up and do it,” Pidge said urgently, drawing your attention to the fact that the monster was now moving towards the Castle of Lions, ready to attack.

“We’ve got to defend the Castle! Everyone, follow me,” Shiro ordered. “Form Voltron!”

The Paladins raced to form Voltron, and as soon as it had transformed, Keith used the Red Lion’s mouth cannon to draw the creature’s attention away from the Castle. Voltron then positioned itself between the Castle and the hideous creature just as it started to charge up a large energy blast from its chest cannon.

Hunk used his Bayard to summon a shoulder cannon to counterattack the energy blasts from the creature. At first, it appeared that it had done the trick, but after only a few seconds it became apparent that the beast still stood upright.

“It’s not enough!” Shiro cried, as Voltron was once again under threat of being overpowered.

“We’ll have to try something else!” Hunk huffed, even as he deflected the beast’s laser fire away from the Castleship. There was a brief pause before he spoke again. “Are you guys seeing this?”  
  
Your computer screen showed that Voltron’s shoulder cannon had locked onto every single one of the beast’s laser eyes. “Roger that,” you confirmed.

“Let’s see what this thing can do,” Shiro said. “Engage!”

The shoulder cannon fired a shower of energy bullets all at once, hitting each of the beast’s eyes and finally rendering it still.

**************************************

You noticed a massive wave of Quintessence spreading across the Balmera, its decaying colours transforming into a vibrant, shimmering shade of blue. It was the most beautiful sight that you had ever seen.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t only the Balmera that was rejuvenated by the healing ceremony that Allura had performed.

The beast had revived yet again, and began attacking Voltron once more.

“It isn’t dead yet!” Your voice was full of outrage as the beast stood up once more.

Keith snarled in anger, and pushed Red’s controls forwards, aiming a punch at the monster, hoping to defeat it once and for all. You whooped as the huge beast flew over the opening of the mine shaft, landing on the other side and finally powering down as it landed in a heap on the other side.

“We did it!” You hugged Keith as you realised that the Balmera had been saved. Feeling him stiffen beneath your embrace, you hastily dropped your arms and jumped away from him.

“Sorry, I guess I just got excited,” you apologised, your face turning scarlet with embarrassment.

“It’s fine, I’m just not used to… a lot of… physical contact, I guess,” Keith replied, his face burning as much as yours. “But it felt… kind of… nice?”

He sounded unsure if this was the right response.

“Well, maybe I can… you know… help you get used to it. I mean, if... if you want,” you stammered, gazing shyly at him.

He grabbed your hand, a shy smile of his own on his face. “I think I’d like that.”

**************************************

Voltron once again landed on the surface of the Balmera, and everyone exited their Lions, noting that Allura was lying in Shay’s arms, still recovering from her exertions in healing the Balmera. Lance frowned as he noticed that your hand was still in Keith’s.

Before you could ask how Allura was, the dreadful creature reawakened yet again and was preparing to attack once more.

“No!” Allura cried weakly, struggling to sit up. The rest of you stood still, faces reflecting your horror, as you stared at the ro-beast who was now almost certain to destroy you completely.

All of a sudden, crystals began rising from the Balmera’s surface and encased the beast, disabling it and freezing it in place.

“No. _Way_ ,” Hunk whispered in awe.

“The Balmera just saved us,” Coran said, his own voice filled with wonder.

“Look at the crystals!” Allura cried with delight.

As you watched, thousands of crystals began to form across the surface of the Balmera, indicating that it was regaining its former health. Hunk knelt down and began petting the planet’s surface, much like someone rubbing a puppy’s belly.

“Oh, who’s a good Balmera?” he crooned. “You are. Who ate the big monster? You did. Yes, you did. Yes, you did.”

You giggled. Shiro, Keith and Lance didn’t seem to find it as funny as you did, staring at him with exasperation.

“Dude, what are you doing?” Keith asked with some embarrassment.

“What? It’s alive, and it _wuvs my scwatches,”_ Hunk crooned again, continuing to pet the Balmera.

Keith facepalmed. Your giggles increased.

_‘I think it’s sweet,’_ you thought.

_‘It’s embarrassing,’_ Keith contradicted.

_‘Oh, please. Hunk is a big sweetheart. I think it’s great that he’s not afraid to show his emotions in front of everyone.’_

Keith just rolled his eyes, even as you once again felt that now-expected flash of jealousy that flared whenever you praised anyone other than himself.

Yep, you definitely needed to help him work on that.

**************************************

You stood on the Balmera’s surface, a soft smile on your face. You felt a presence beside you, and turned your head slightly to see Keith standing next to you.

“And just what are you swooning about?” he asked sardonically.

You gestured with your chin, where Hunk and Shay were sitting on top of the Yellow Lion. “Shay had mentioned that she’d never seen the sky before, so Hunk took her up there to watch the sunrise.”

“Huh.” Keith didn’t seem impressed.

“I miss that about Earth. Sunset was always my favourite time of day. I used to love watching the sun going down from the rooftop of the Garrison.” You sighed, continuing to watch your teammate and the Balmeran girl. “I’m glad that Hunk is sharing this with Shay. It’s beautiful.”  
  
“Yeah, I suppose it is,” Keith said softly, looking at you. He wondered how you would react if he asked you to watch the sunrise with him whilst sitting atop Red. Then he wondered where that thought had come from.  
  
You turned your head again, and seemed embarrassed to find Keith watching you. “Um, I think I’m going to leave them to it. This moment seems kind of…”

“Intimate?” he whispered.

Cheeks flaming, you replied, “I was going to say _private_ , but… yeah, ‘intimate’ works, I guess.”  
  
You bit your bottom lip, and Keith suddenly found himself feeling an overwhelming urge to kiss you. Before he could act on this impulse, however, you turned without a word and walked towards the Castleship, leaving him staring wistfully after you.

Deciding to return to the Castle himself, he took one last look at the Yellow Paladin, still on top of his Lion with the Balmeran girl that he so admired, and Keith wished for once that he could be as brave as Hunk was right at this moment.


	11. Do You Want Cybermen? Because This Is How You Get Cybermen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coran and Shiro try to gather information from Sendak's subconscious. You and Keith get into trouble during a training session, and it seems like the Castle of Lions is out to destroy the Paladins of Voltron unless Allura can make a heartbreaking decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter relates to Series 1 Episode 9 “Crystal Venom”.

Pidge joined all of you in the detainment room, clearly irritated at being interrupted from conducting whatever experiment she had been in the middle of in the Green Lion’s hangar. She stood next to you as the Paladins watched Coran place several strange looking devices on the sleep pod containing the Galra General, Sendak.

“Okay, guys, Sendak’s almost all hooked up,” Coran stated disapprovingly. “But, look, I have to warn you, this technology was used to keep Altean memories alive, not to interrogate prisoners.”

Shiro glanced at him. “Coran, we understand this isn’t what the technology was meant for, but if we can extract Sendak’s memories, we may gain valuable intelligence on Zarkon’s troop locations.”

“Yeah, and then we can just be like, _‘Knock knock.’_ _‘Who’s there?’_ _‘The avenging fury of Voltron, son’_!” Lance exclaimed enthusiastically. You snorted at your friend’s exuberance, while Keith did his usual eye-roll.

You watched as Coran continued to hook up various bits to the sleep pod. A shiver ran down your spine as you had a sudden premonition of impending disaster.

“Can I just state, for the record, that I think this is an absolutely terrible idea?” you ventured. “I mean, this is _Sendak._ The guy is the textbook definition of sadistic. Even if we _could_ get anything from him, how do we know that he’d be telling us the truth?”

Shiro placed a comforting hand on your shoulder. “I understand your concern, Y/N. Believe me, if there was another way for us to find out what Zarkon is up to, I’d be the first to take it. But I honestly believe that this is an opportunity that is too good for us to pass up.”

Pidge scrutinised the equipment. “Fascinating. So, how exactly does this work?”  
  
“As the memories are extracted, they’re written bit by bit on individual molecules of the micro-storage strands,” Coran explained.

“When I go, I want all the stuff in my brain stored in a giant ship,” Lance announced.

Keith raised an eyebrow. “The amount of information in _your_ brain could be stored in a paper airplane,” he said sarcastically. To Lance’s dismay, you snickered.

“Oh, yeah? Well, the amount of information _you_ have, Keith, could be…” Lance floundered for several seconds.

“…Yeah?” Keith pressed, obviously awaiting the witty retort that was not yet forthcoming.

“Uh... it’s less than what I have!” Lance finished lamely.

“Oh, good one, Lance!” Hunk said encouragingly.

“So this is how you incorporated King Alfor’s memories into the Castle of Lions?” Pidge asked, ignoring the usual bickering between the Red and Blue Paladins.

“Precisely, but it’s never been attempted before on an unwilling participant,” Coran confirmed. He activated the memory storage device, and absolutely nothing happened.

“Uh, is this what’s supposed to be happening?” Hunk wondered.

“Let’s give it some time,” Shiro suggested.

So you waited. And waited. And waited some more.

Eventually, the lack of anything interesting happening proved too much for your restless partner.

“Well, I can’t wait around anymore. I’m gonna hit the training deck.” Keith started to leave, then turned to look over his shoulder. “You coming, Y/N?”

You gave him a perplexed look. “You want me to train with you?”  
  
“Your hand-to-hand combat is appalling. You need to work on it.”

Your eyes narrowed in irritation. “Oh, and I suppose _you’re_ the perfect candidate to assist me with that?”

“Do you want my help or not?” he asked, once again moving towards the training deck, not waiting to see if you were following him. For all that the two of you had been getting along better over the past few weeks, the Red Paladin still knew how to push all of your buttons quicker than anybody else.

“I am going to kick your butt so hard, you won’t be able to sit down for a week,” you blustered.

“No, you’re going to _try_ ,” Keith called back over his shoulder.

Huffing in annoyance, you raced after him, determined that he was not going to get the better of you.

Hunk looked at Lance. “So, did Keith just ask Y/N on a date, or…?”

Lance glared at the larger boy, then turned his back on him and continued to wait for something interesting to happen with Sendak.

**************************************

Keith gave you an appreciative nod as you stood over him, staff at his throat, after finally knocking him flat on his back. “You’re getting better. You actually managed to get a few solid hits on me that time.”

Holding out your hand, you helped him to his feet. “Told you I’d kick your butt.”

He snorted. “You knocked me down _once._ I lost count of how many times I had you pinned down on the floor.”  
  
You poked your tongue out at him, even as your face turned scarlet at his unintentional innuendo. As usual whenever you felt embarrassed, you resorted to snark. “I just let you win so that you could feel good about yourself. I know how bruised your ego gets whenever you get upstaged.”  
  
“Whatever you need to tell yourself, sweetheart.” He looked at you with something remarkably like fondness, which set your heart fluttering for some reason. “You _are_ improving, but you still leave yourself wide open. You telegraph your moves too much, so it’s easy to counterattack.”

He set up his usual training sequence with the Gladiator robot. “Watch what I do, and next time, see if you can incorporate it into your own attack and defence.”

You sat to the side, watching intently as Keith sparred with the Gladiator robot. He easily parried the robot’s attacks with his Bayard. His moves were smooth, and he was so much quicker than you. His agility was breathtaking; it was almost like he was dancing with the robot. It was beautiful to watch, fluid and graceful. You found yourself admiring his fighting technique, and made a mental note not to compliment him lest his ego inflate to even more monstrous proportions.

At the end of the sequence, Keith destroyed the Gladiator robot. A new one was dispensed from the ceiling, and Keith said, “Start training level three.”

You watched admiringly as Keith did his best to keep up with the new Gladiator, but it was proving too intense for him. After only a couple of minutes, he stopped fighting. “End training sequence.”

Strangely, the system did not respond. Instead, the robot rushed towards Keith.

“End training sequence!” he shouted desperately, defending himself against the robot’s continuing onslaught. “End training sequence _now!”_

He was knocked aside by the Gladiator, losing his Bayard in the process. Just as the robot was about to strike what could have potentially been a deadly blow, Keith managed to dodge the attack.

You screamed in terror, and Keith’s protective instinct kicked in as he saw the Gladiator robot poised to attack you. He recovered his Bayard and grabbed your hand, pulling you out of the way just as the robot was about to strike. He dragged you into the hallway as the two of you fled the training deck. Slamming the button on the wall, he breathed a sigh of relief as the doors shut behind you, separating you from the rogue Gladiator.

Keith’s heart clenched with fear when you screamed once more. The Gladiator robot had forced the doors open and was attempting to make its way into the hall to follow you.

The two of you raced through the hallways, hoping to evade the rogue machine, and wondering what the quiznak had happened.

**************************************

As you and Keith ran through the halls of the Castle, trying to determine what was going on, you discovered that the Castle itself appeared to be attacking all of the inhabitants. How such a thing was happening, neither of you could fathom.

You suddenly heard muffled cries for help, and with a gasp of horror, you noted that Lance was trapped in the airlock.

**[… twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven…]** the computer counted down.

“Lance!” you shrieked as you frantically tried to open the airlock.

“Y/N! Keith!” your friend cried, desperate to escape.

You screamed again as the Gladiator robot rounded the corner, and it began attacking Keith once more. He grunted as he defended himself, finally noticing that Lance was on the other side of the airlock.

**[…six, five…]**

“What are you doing in there?” Keith demanded, even as he continued to fight back against the rogue Gladiator robot.

“I need help! Because if you don’t get me out of here right now, I’m going to be sucked out into space!” Lance yelled.

With a cry of frustration, you once again slammed your hand onto the button operating the airlock, just as the Gladiator was about to strike a killing blow at Keith.

**[Doors opening]** the computer advised. The airlock opened, and the Gladiator robot was sucked out into the void.

Lance screamed in fear as he tried desperately to claw his way to safety. You reached for him, but he couldn’t quite grasp your hand.

“I’m getting sucked out into space!” Lance yelled.

“Keith! Keith, help me! I can’t reach him!”

Your terrified yells finally seemed to get through to Keith, as he reached out and grabbed Lance’s outstretched arm, pulling him to safety. You clung to your friend, sobbing with relief that he was safe. The usual envy that Keith felt was immediately brushed aside in favour of relief that his team-mate was unharmed.

“What were you doing out there?” you yelled.

“Who was that guy?” Lance yelled back at the same time, in reference to the Gladiator robot.

“He was trying to kill us!” Keith replied, his voice pitched higher than usual.

“Well, is he the Castle? Because that’s who’s trying to kill _me!”_ Lance shrieked.

The three of you looked at each other, and with simultaneous yelps, headed towards the control room of the Castle in the hopes that you could find the others and try to figure out a way to return things to normal.

**************************************

You, Keith and Lance entered the hangar where Pidge had been working, only to find her and Hunk collapsed on the floor.

“How can you guys be taking a nap while this castle is trying to kill us?” Lance asked with some exasperation.

“Taking a nap? We’ve been floating around in Zero G!” Hunk replied. “You know how scary that is?”

“That’s not scary! That’s fun! I was almost ejected into space!” Lance’s voice was increasingly shrill.

“I got attacked by killer food, and that’s the most horrifying thing you can imagine! The stuff of nightmares! It’ll haunt me to my grave!” Hunk shuddered.

“Well, I had a robot trying to kill me and Y/N!” Keith interjected.

“I don’t care what you say, Coran. This castle has gone apples and bananas!” Lance yelled hysterically at the Altean.

Coran groaned. “Perhaps the infection from Sendak’s Galra crystal is worse than we thought.”

“Oh, you think?” you asked sarcastically. As usual, whenever your nerves got the better of you, you resorted to snark.  
  
“Well, let’s get rid of it,” Hunk suggested.

“It’s too late,” Coran told him. “When Sendak plugged it into the ship, it corrupted the entire system.”

“Sendak?” you cried, another chill running down your spine.

“Wait. Has anyone seen Shiro?” Keith asked, his voice filled with concern.

Coran and the Paladins all stared at each other, and then all of you raced towards the detainment room, hoping that Shiro was still there.

**************************************

You noticed Shiro kneeling on the floor, grimacing as if he was in pain. You and Keith ran to him, trying to help him to his feet.

“Shiro, are you okay?” you asked softly, your voice betraying your worry.

“Where’s Sendak?” Keith frowned, noting that the detainment unit which contained the Galra prisoner was nowhere to be seen.

“I… I had to get him out of here,” Shiro whispered. “I was hearing his voice. He… He can’t be trusted on this ship.”  
  
“It _is_ the ship!” Lance insisted. “I got stuck in a cryo-pod, then in an airlock. Keith and Y/N got attacked by a robot, and Hunk and Pidge got attacked by food. It’s been a weird morning.”  
  
The computer beeped, and Coran stared at it in confusion. “What? How is that possible?”  
  
“What is it?” Keith was on even higher alert than usual.

“The ship is starting a wormhole jump!”

All of you raced to the Bridge, wondering what was happening now.  
  
“Allura, what’s going on?” Shiro asked the princess, who was now on the Bridge. She was standing at the console, her hands on the wormhole generator. A barrier surrounded her, preventing any of you from getting closer to her.

“We’re going to Altea,” she replied dreamily. “We’re going home. My father is taking us.”

A hologram of King Alfor appeared as Shiro tried to draw Allura away from the wormhole generator. **[Stay away from my daughter!]**

“Allura, wake up!” Shiro yelled.

“The crystal must have corrupted King Alfor’s artificial intelligence. It’s taking over!” Coran howled.

“We’re headed straight for a star and it’s about to explode!” Pidge pointed out the window towards the blazing star straight ahead.

“Father, I can see Altea,” Princess Allura said happily.

“Allura! Allura, wake up!” Coran begged. “What you’re seeing isn’t real.”

“The juniberries, the most exquisite flower of all,” Allura whispered, as she plucked a beautiful bloom from those at her feet.

“Allura, please! You’ve got to listen to me!” Coran continued trying desperately to rouse the princess from her stupor.

“Is this real?” Allura asked incredulously.

**[Of course it is real, Daughter]** the hologram replied. **[That flower you’re touching is real.]**

“But where is the fragrance of the sweet juniberries?” Coran cried in desperation, hoping at last to break the princess from her trance.

Allura sniffed the flower in her hand. “Huh?”

It seemed to awaken her from whatever spell she was under. “That’s not Altea!” she cried, seeming to notice the approaching star for the first time.

“When that star goes supernova, it will destroy the entire system,” Pidge advised. “Allura, you must reset the course and get us out of here!”

Allura moved to turn off the wormhole generator, but was pushed back by the hologram of Alfor, then locked out as the particle barrier prevented her from stopping the inevitable destruction of the Castle.  
  
“Father, please, I beg you to turn this ship around,” Allura begged the hologram. “If we don’t do it soon, we will all perish!”

**[I know. That is my intention]** King Alfor replied.

“What? Why?” Allura gasped.

**[Don’t you see, dear daughter? Zarkon can never be defeated. He’s been ruling for ten thousand years.]**

“But we must continue to fight!” Allura insisted.

**[Fight for what? It is all over for Altea. You don’t have to live a lifetime of war. You can be with me and the rest of your people.]**

“Father, please! The Paladins and I can still stop Zarkon! Somewhere in there, you must want that to happen.” Allura’s voice was filled with pain.

The hologram responded more gently. **[Allura, my A.I. has been corrupted. You must disconnect my power source.]**  
  
The hologram glitched, then spoke again. [ **“We can stroll across the Blossom Canyon every morning, just like we used to. Remember how much you loved that?]**  
  
“I remember. I’ll see you soon, Father.” Allura turned to Coran. “I’ve got to get into the A.I. chamber to disconnect my father’s power source manually.”

Coran gasped. “But that means losing King Alfor forever!”

Allura turned to look at all of you. “Paladins, get to your Lions! I need you to slow the Castle’s descent into the star.”  
  
Coran bustled towards the console. “I can try to override the system to open the hangars.”

The team raced to their Lions, and hoped that Allura could remedy the situation before it was too late.

**************************************

**[Don’t do this!]** fake Alfor cried.

**[You must]** King Alfor contradicted.

**[All my memories, all my knowledge will be lost forever!]** fake Alfor said.

**[Do it, Allura]** Alfor said gently. **[If you are to live, we must say goodbye.]**  
  
“I’m sorry about this, Father,” Allura whispered.

The fake Alfor tried to sway Allura by replaying happy memories, but fortunately the princess realised that it was a ruse, and ignored the lies in order to turn off the A.I.

“Goodbye, Father,” she said, tears streaming down her face.

**[Goodbye, Allura.]** The vision of King Alfor faded away, leaving Allura sobbing as she lost the last part of her father.

An alarm started blaring, shaking Allura out of her despair. “Paladins, get to your hangars. We’re getting out of here.”

**************************************  
  
“I’m so sorry about your father, Princess,” Shiro said sympathetically.

“We all are,” you echoed, placing a hand on Allura’s shoulder.

Allura seemed to gather strength from the compassion of everyone. “Thank you. But that was not my father. The real King Alfor was a great man and a great father. He may not be here with us anymore, but his dream lives on through all of us, and his legacy is Voltron.”

The Princess stood proudly on the Bridge, surrounded by the Paladins, as all of you vowed to bring down Zarkon.


	12. It's Oh So Quiet, It's Oh So Still, It's... Oh, It's A Trap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team stops at an isolated – and seemingly insignificant – Galra space station, and discovers how the Empire is gathering its energy from the universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter aligns with Series 1 Episode 10 “Collection and Extraction”

The electronic beeping was going to drive you insane.

“Somewhere inside Sendak’s memories, we should be able to find the inside information that gives us the key to take down Zarkon,” Allura mused.

The team was crowded around Pidge, watching as she tapped furiously at the keyboard in front of her, trying to make sense of the information scrolling up the screen.

“I don’t think your father would approve of searching through an enemy’s memories,” Coran admonished the princess.

“I know, but we have to do everything we can to defeat Zarkon,” Allura replied.

“Once we learn all his weaknesses, we can drive up to his front door and challenge him to a fight. Winner gets the universe,” Lance declared, holding out his arms as if he had just won a great victory.

“Anything good yet, Pidge?” Shiro asked.

The diminutive Paladin had been attempting to sift through Sendak’s memories. “We were only able to salvage bits and pieces.”

Keith sighed. “We need something to work with. Right now, we don’t even have a decent map of the Empire.”

“Who needs a map?” Lance scoffed. “After ten thousand years of conquering, I could probably fire my Bayard at, like, any random point in space and hit a Galra ship.”

“If we could just find troop locations or supply routes, small targets we could hit-and-run, then we could start to free planets one by one,” you muttered.

“Boring. I want the big kaboom,” Lance announced.

Shiro looked at him pointedly. “Zarkon’s been building his empire for ten thousand years. We’re not going to tear it down overnight with six inexperienced pilots and one support ship. Hitting him where he lives would be a huge mistake.”  
  
Pidge finished combing through the memories retrieved from the Galra General. “Okay, I’ve cross-referenced Sendak’s memories with the info I got from the downed ship back on Arus. Most of it was a garbled mess, but one thing kept repeating - something called a ‘Universal Station’.”

“Universal Station? Like, the kind of station that controls the entire universe?” Hunk pondered.

“Well, we are translating it from Galra, so it could also be ‘Galactic Hub’,” Pidge pointed out.

“Or ‘Space Base’!” Lance exclaimed. Noting the quirked eyebrow you directed at him, he shrugged. “What?”

“I’m pulling up the location of your Universal Hub… Station… Base on our screens now,” Coran announced. You winced at his garbled amalgamation of all of the suggested names.

“So… where is it?” you asked, trying to make sense of what you were looking at on the screen.

“I don’t know,” Coran admitted. “Our long-range sensors are unable to find anything at those coordinates.”  
  
“Maybe he remembered it wrong,” Keith suggested, his tone indicating that he didn’t really believe it.

You flicked your eyes to Shiro. “Or maybe we just stumbled across a top secret base in Sendak’s memories.”

“Only one way to find out,” Allura replied grimly. “Let’s go take a look.”

**************************************

Hunk’s snores sounded throughout the Castle Bridge as the ship flew towards the coordinates obtained from Sendak’s memories.

“We should be close enough to get a good scan, but far enough away to avoid being noticed,” Allura announced.

Shiro pointed to an area between two planets. “There it is.”

The base seemed fairly large, as several Galra warships were docked in the landing area.

“It appears the gravitation between the two planets warps the electron emission spectrum enough to keep the planet off the deep space scanners,” Coran surmised.

“So you can only see it if you really know where to look.” Pidge sounded impressed.

Shiro said, “This place must handle shipments from all over the Galra Empire.”

“If this is just some big airport where shipments come and go, why is it hidden?” you wondered.

“There must be more to this than we’re seeing,” Shiro responded.

“Then we’d better go down to take a look,” Allura said. She pointed to an area on the schematics. “We’ll need to enter here: the central control building.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, Princess, did you say ‘we’?”

“I’m going with you,” Allura’s voice was firm. “I’ve travelled through the Galra transportation hubs many times with my father before the war began. I know more about them than any of you.”

“Princess, I’d rather you stay here,” Coran objected.

“I’m a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone,” she insisted. “I’m going. Does anyone have a problem with that?”  
  
The look she directed at all of you indicated that it might be in everyone’s best interests not to disagree with her.

“Uh…” Coran stammered.

Lance whistled nonchalantly, while you and Keith just shrugged.

Shiro’s expression was resigned. “Fine. Suit up.”

You almost felt sorry for Coran, as he screamed in frustration at Shiro’s decision. Almost. He really should know better than to try and cross the princess, though.

**************************************

“We’ll go in low, fast, and hopefully undetected,” Shiro instructed. “Coming around the dark side of the nearest planet should keep them from getting a visual on us. Thanks to Pidge’s modifications to the Green Lion, we’ll have thirty seconds of cloaking.”

“I can flood their short-range sensors with a radiation burst,” Coran added. “That should buy you a minute or so, while they assume it’s cosmic interference. But after that, it’s up to you to be out of sight.”

Pidge landed the Green Lion, and everyone looked out over the central control building. The team managed to sneak in undetected.

You heard a male voice announce **[Interference clear in three, two, one.]**

“Psst. Hey,” Shiro whispered to the Galra sentry in front of him.

When the sentry turned to look, Shiro, Keith and Lance made short work of him and the other sentries on duty. Once they were knocked out, Lance and Hunk dragged them out of sight.

Shiro sat on the floor while Pidge hooked up his prosthetic arm to her laptop. He glanced up at Keith, who was looking out the window over the base. “How’s it look out there?”

“All clear,” Keith advised.

“This shouldn’t take too long,” Hunk said hopefully.

Pidge replied, “We’ll have all the information we need in a few minutes.”

The computer beeped, and Pidge typed furiously. “Hunk and I have made some improvements since the last time I tried to download Galra info. We should get a nice, clean transmission immediately. Hunk had a great idea about how to do it.”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Hunk said excitedly. “Do you guys remember when we studied algorithms at the Garrison, and Mr York told us that joke about the ghost learning symbolic logic and innumerably infinite sets?”

“Yeah…” you replied slowly, your brain starting to protest at the memory of those mind-numbingly dull lessons.

“Boring!” Lance declared.

“Right, yeah, totally, it was boring. Anyway, the joke goes…” Lance groaned as Hunk continued the joke.

“Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt, but I think we got company,” Keith advised. All of you instinctively ducked as another Galra warship flew overhead, ready to dock. “Think we should get out of here?”

“We just need a few more seconds,” Pidge requested.

“Stay low. We need this intel,” Shiro urged.

The computer beeped again, and you heard Pidge gasp.

“Get down!” Keith shouted, pushing you out of sight behind him.

A Galra’s face appeared on the screen above the console in the control station, obviously searching for the Galra who should have been on duty.

“He’s still looking,” Lance noted. “I think he’s waiting for a signal or something.”

“I got it,” Hunk assured him. He grabbed one of the downed sentries, holding it up to the screen and waving its arms around in an attempt to convince the Galra that everything was fine. After what felt like an eternity, the other Galra waved back and continued on his way.

Everyone breathed out a simultaneous sigh of relief that the ruse had worked.

“Nice job, Hunk,” you congratulated the engineer, who blushed as he stammered his thanks. Keith glowered briefly, his jealousy rising to the surface despite knowing that you meant nothing by the compliment to the larger boy.

“Okay, download complete,” Pidge said.

Keith’s curiosity got the better of him. “What’s it say?”

“Nothing,” Pidge said, disappointment lacing her voice. “This place doesn’t have any useful information. Just a schedule of the ships coming in and out.”

“Well, I guess this mission was a bust,” Lance said with a huff.

“Let’s get back to the Castle,” Shiro ordered.

“Hold on,” Allura said. “Pidge, do you know where that ship is headed?”

Pidge reviewed the information she’d downloaded. “Um, it’s scheduled to be here for about a half an hour, then head off to Central Command.”  
  
“That’s where they have the information we need, and I’m going to sneak aboard that ship and get it for us,” Allura decided.

“What? No way!” Lance objected.

“How are you going to get in?” you asked her sceptically.

“I’m going to walk right through the front,” she replied confidently, as she removed her helmet.

Every Paladin gasped in shock as the princess grew nearly two feet taller, and her skin changed from its usual nut-brown hue to the purplish tint of the Galra.

“How the heck did you do that?” Hunk asked, as the rest of you stared at the princess in slack-jawed amazement.

“The Alteans are a chameleon-like people who can blend in with the local populations,” Allura told him. “It’s the ability that’s made us great explorers and diplomats throughout our history.”

“So, can you turn into, like, a balloon?” Lance asked hopefully.

“How many different colours can you be at once?” Pidge demanded.

“Aren’t you afraid you’ll rip your pants?” Hunk asked seriously.

Allura answered each question in turn. “No; just one at a time; and I _will_ need a change of costume. I can use his uniform as a disguise,” she said, pointing to the downed Galra.

_‘We’re stuck with a bunch of idiots,’_ Keith thought irritably.

_‘Oh, come on, aren’t you the least bit curious about what her abilities involve?’_

_‘No,’_ he lied.

“I can’t let you go in there alone,” Shiro told her.

“Excuse me? I do not need your permission,” Allura retorted, offended by his suggestion.

“It’s too dangerous. I’m going in with you,” the Black Paladin insisted.

The princess snorted. “You will stick out like a Choferiak’s nose.”

“You’re going to need that nose, Princess,” Pidge said solemnly. “Shiro’s hand is made from Galra tech. It’s the only thing we have that will allow us to interface with their systems and gather intel. I can monitor the download remotely from here.”

Allura stared at Shiro for a heartbeat. “Fine, you can come.”

“Uh, you guys better hurry up if you want to get on and off before the ship leaves for Zarkon central,” Hunk said worriedly.

“How are you going to get Shiro on board?” Keith demanded.

**************************************

Allura did exactly what she said she was going to do. She walked right in through the front, with Shiro hidden inside a container full of spare parts. There was a moment’s concern when she was halted by a Galra sentry, however once he had briefly pretended to inspect the container that Allura was pushing, they were allowed to continue.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“They’re in,” Lance sighed.

As Allura entered the Galra ship, several other Galra descended with large containers of a glowing golden substance.

“What do you think they have in all those giant containers?” Keith asked, his curiosity piqued.

“Well, I suspect that it’s sporks,” Hunk said seriously. He noted the incredulous stares of the rest of you. “What? This is an advanced race we’re talking about here. Surely, they’ve learned that it’s foolish to have forks _and_ spoons when one tool will efficiently do the job.”

“Maybe this guy will tell us,” Pidge said, pointing at the sentry that she had hooked up to her laptop. “What is coming in and out of this station?”

**[Interrogation detected. Initiating lockdown]** the sentry beeped.

“Not talking, huh?” Pidge deadpanned.

You noticed a strange Galra below, dressed in a mask and robes. He looked like a wizard, or perhaps an evil sorcerer. “Whoa. Check out this guy.”

Keith frowned. “Whatever’s happening here that requires the base to be kept secret must have something to do with that scary dude. I’m going to go check it out.”

Of course he was.

“If you think you’re going in there alone, Flyboy, think again,” you told him, following as he went to leave. He rolled his eyes in annoyance, but didn’t try to stop you.

Lance objected quite loudly. “How about we just lay low and you don’t blow our cover? Keith, Y/N, think about what you’re doing. Don’t walk through that door!”

The two of you ignored him, the door shutting behind you.

“I think I told them,” Lance said.

“You are a paragon of leadership, Lance,” Pidge said sarcastically.

**************************************

You and Keith followed the Druid who was transporting the containers of strange fluid, making sure to keep a safe distance between you. You followed them into a large hangar, gasping softly at the sight of row after row of giant containers before you. The room glowed with golden light as the jars were loaded, one at a time, onto what appeared to be a giant conveyor belt.

You watched in fascination as a container was emptied of its golden liquid, which spiralled into a large orb in the centre of the room. The Druid held out his hands, and purple lightning shot out towards the orb, turning the golden liquid into a dull purplish hue. The purple liquid was then funnelled into a container located directly underneath the orb.

“What is he _doing?”_ you whispered, staring in puzzlement at the sight before you.

Keith used the camera in his helmet to take footage of the scene before you. “Coran, you need to see this,” he whispered, transmitting video to Coran.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Coran gasped.

“What is that?” Pidge queried, as she, Lance and Hunk also viewed the video feed.

The Galra drone responded. **[The material is Quintessence, the substance with the highest known energy per unit volume in the universe.]**

“Hey, nice job, Pidge! You made him work for us,” Lance congratulated the team’s tech genius.

“What? Impossible.” Coran’s voice was filled with doubt.

**[Raw Quintessence material is transported here from throughout the galaxy and refined into standardised Galra fuel requirements]** the drone intoned.

“Did you guys hear that?” Pidge asked over the comms.

“We heard it, Pidge,” you confirmed, staring at the containers.

“I can’t believe it!” Coran said. “They’ve found a new way to acquire Quintessence!”

Keith’s face grew determined, causing you to grow concerned. That expression never boded well.

“Guys, I’m going to steal some of this Quint-whatever,” the Red Paladin announced.

“Keith, no!” you hissed, reaching out a hand to stop him. He easily evaded your grasp – curse his superior agility – and headed towards the containers. He grabbed the purple container from the pallet which was floating past him, and ducked behind a large pillar to examine it.

Unfortunately, the Druid appeared to have noticed that the glass vessel had been taken, as he looked in the direction where Keith was hiding. You inhaled sharply as the Druid disappeared from the platform on which he had been standing. Before you realised what had happened, the Druid reappeared directly behind Keith and blasted him with a bolt of energy. The Druid picked up the container that Keith dropped.

“Okay, Plan B!” he yelled, summoning his Bayard as he rushed towards the Galra sorceror. Just as he swung with his blade, the Druid vanished, only to reappear behind him. Every time Keith took a swing, the Druid would disappear, then turn up again a few feet away.

Suddenly, the Druid stood on the platform directly above Keith, and hurled lightning from both hands at him. Keith ducked and weaved the energy as it blasted a large ditch in the hangar floor. The smoke cleared, and the Druid stared at the spot where Keith should have been.

With a yell, the Red Paladin leapt at the Druid, his jet pack hurtling him towards the evil Galra. He drew his Bayard back, preparing to strike with his katana. The Druid, however, managed to block him with a lightning shield, and the two remained locked together for several seconds.

You watched apprehensively as the Druid eventually hit Keith with the purple lightning, hurling him towards the glass jars. Keith crashed into the jars of Quintessence, crying out as he fell to the ground. He curled into himself, gasping in pain as he cradled his right hand. You felt a burning sensation in your own right hand, and looked down as if it had been burned as well. However, there was no injury to be seen, and you realised that you had felt Keith’s pain through your life-bond.

The Druid continued to blast lightning at Keith, and his desperation was apparent through the life-bond. You could feel him sobbing as the pain in his hand overwhelmed him, and it infuriated you. Adrenaline coursed through you, and your anxiety for his safety overrode your own fear. Your instinctive need to protect Keith drove out every other thought. Abandoning your hiding place, you raced towards him, desperately blocking the lightning bolts with your staff.

Dragging Keith behind cover, you looked at his damaged hand and noticed that it had been stained purple from the dark magic of the Druid. He hissed when you grabbed it, despite your attempts at gentleness, so you dropped it and looked around for a way out. Keith sat behind you, still moaning in pain.

“Pidge! We need an extraction _now!_ Hurry!” you shouted through the comms.

“Pidge, fire up the Green Lion! We’re coming in hot!” Shiro directed a fraction of a second later.

A male voice sounded over the ship’s intercom. **[Secure hatches. All personnel take positions for departure.]**

You grabbed Keith’s uninjured hand, dragging him behind you as you tried to evade the lightning being fired at you from the Druid. Unfortunately, he managed to get a shot past your shield, causing the two of you to be thrown towards the conveyor belt. You slid down and landed near the glass jar awaiting the Druid’s magic. You stood defiantly in front of Keith, your staff in front of you, as you awaited the next blast of lightning to obliterate both of you.

Mere seconds later, the Green Lion arrived just as the druid was aiming another lightning bolt at you. The Lion caused the Druid to miss, and the lightning bolt instead hit a container of the pure Quintessence which was directly behind you. The glass container shattered, and you shrieked as you were showered with shards of glass as well as pure liquid Quintessence.

Keith gasped once more as the Quintessence doused his hand, the Druid continuing to rain lightning over the hangar.

“Get in!” Pidge yelled. “We’ve got to get Shiro and Allura!”

You and Keith scrambled aboard the Green Lion, Keith still cradling his right hand.

“Huh?” Keith growled, still in some pain. The two of you stared with wide eyes as the golden liquid healed his injury.

“What just happened?” you squeaked, inspecting his hand to see if there was any residual damage from the Druid’s magic.

The two of you wore identical expressions of confusion as you noted that Keith’s hand was perfectly fine.

**************************************

The team was relieved when Shiro entered the cockpit of the Green Lion. However, it took only a second to realise that he had returned alone.

“Where’s Allura?” Keith whispered.

“Shiro?” Lance asked, when the Black Paladin didn’t answer.

Shiro sighed. “She sacrificed herself to save me.”

“So she’s still on that ship?” you gasped, horrified.

“The ship that’s headed to Zarkon’s Central Command?” Hunk murmured.

“The place that’s way too dangerous for us to attack?” Keith asked.

“It doesn’t matter how dangerous it is,” Shiro growled. “We can’t let Zarkon get Allura.”  
  
“But you said going there would be a huge mistake,” Hunk reminded him. “You said for us to attack that place head-on would be the dumbest possible thing we could ever do.”

“I know. But now we don’t have a choice.”

You all looked at Shiro, then one another, before Pidge steered the Green Lion back towards the Castleship.


	13. There Is No 'I' In 'Team', But There Are Two 'I's' In 'Idiot'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zarkon lures Voltron into battle on his ship, and the team attempt to rescue Princess Allura. When the Black Lion is captured, you and Keith discover the devastating truth about the original Black Paladin. The Lions get separated when a trip through a wormhole goes awry, and your tenuous friendship with Keith starts to fracture as you question his priorities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit longer as it encompasses Series 1 Episode 11 “The Black Paladin” and Series 2 Episode 1 “Across The Universe”

The team headed to the Control Room of the Castleship. Shiro said, “Pidge, scan the download from the ship. Find out where Zarkon’s central command is.”

“On it!” Pidge confirmed, already bringing up the information on her screen so that she could attempt to decipher it.

“What happened? Where’s Allura?” Coran cried desperately, noting that the princess was not with you.

Shiro sighed. “They captured her. She sacrificed herself to save me and the information. I didn’t have a choice.”

“How is that possible?” Coran demanded.

“Coran, I’m sorry things didn’t go as planned, but we can’t focus on what went wrong. We’ve got to figure out how to make it right. Pidge, anything?”

Pidge called all of you over to her console. “Guys, look at this.”

The size of the Galra base was incredible. You’d never seen anything so large. Even the Galaxy Garrison would be dwarfed in comparison to this monstrosity.

“Look at the size of it!” Coran sounded appalled.

“I think we should go in right away,” Pidge said. “Every minute we waste gives Zarkon time to prepare for us.”

“I agree,” Lance said, nodding vigorously. “We form Voltron, fly in, fly out, dust off our hands, and walk away.”

Hunk’s face grew concerned. “Um, do you guys not remember the Balmera? We could barely take out one fleet. But this… a base this size could hold a thousand fleets.”

“Or maybe we shouldn’t go on this mission at all.” Keith’s voice sounded reluctant. He continued hastily as you stared at him with disbelief at his apparent callousness. “Think about it. We’ll be delivering the universe’s only hope to the universe’s biggest enemy.”  
  
“Keith! I can’t believe you would suggest just _leaving_ Allura in the hands of the Galra!” you hissed at him angrily. He could feel your disappointment through the life-bond, and it made him squirm with discomfort.

“Keith, that’s cold, even for you.” Hunk appeared to agree with your sentiment. “What if it was one of us? What if it was me? You wouldn’t leave _me_ , would you? Would you?”

“I’m not saying I like the idea,” Keith retorted, clearly regretting voicing his opinion. “I’m just thinking like a Paladin.”

“No, you’re thinking of yourself because you’re too scared to do what’s right!” Lance yelled.

“Okay, we’re all upset because we lost Allura,” Pidge interjected, trying to placate everyone.

“No, _Shiro_ lost Allura!” Coran was indignant.

You rubbed your temples in frustration. “Okay, okay! This isn’t helping. We can’t just sit here and bicker like this.”

Lance continued to glare at Keith, and he returned your friend’s animosity with anger and irritation on his own face.

Shiro rubbed his face with his human hand. “Let’s focus. How are we going to get Allura?”

**************************************

“Anything?” Shiro asked, as you continued to study the schematics of the Galra base on your computer screen.

You shook your head before giving your leader an apologetic look. “There’s just no way in. They’ll have us tracked from every direction.”

“There’s gotta be something. Keep looking.” Shiro walked over to Coran, placing a hand on the Altean’s shoulder. “I know you’re worried about her. We all are. I’m sorry I let her slip away.”  
  
“I know it’s not your fault,” Coran assured your leader. “It’s just… I’ve already lost so much. I can’t lose Allura, too.”

“We’ll find a way to get her back,” Shiro declared. “If there was just a way to get close to Zarkon’s ship unseen…”

Coran snapped his fingers, suddenly hit by a flash of inspiration. “Wait a tick. I think I’ve got a way.”

**************************************

Shiro grew tense as the team flew towards the base. “Everyone, eyes front. We’ve got a plan to get Allura. We’re going to jump to the heart of the enemy, unseen and undetected.”

“I thought we needed Allura to open up a wormhole,” Pidge responded with a puzzled frown.

“It’s true that Allura powers the Castle’s ability to travel through wormholes,” Coran agreed. “However, I think we have enough of her residual essence stored in the system to make one jump. We’ll hide the Castle here, inside one of these giant gas planets in Zarkon’s command system. The gas is so dense, we’ll be hidden.”

“From there, we’ll use the Castle to scan for Allura on Zarkon’s ship and attack before Zarkon knows what hit him,” Shiro continued.

“There’s only one hiccup,” Coran told him. “We have enough energy to wormhole in, but, without Allura, we won’t have enough energy to wormhole out.”  
  
“It doesn’t matter. We’re not leaving without her.” Shiro’s mouth was set in a grim line.

**************************************

“We’re here,” Shiro announced.

Coran checked the scanners. “I’m detecting Allura’s energy signature. From this distance, the signal’s pretty weak, but she’s somewhere in Zarkon’s main ship.”

“It gives us a starting point,” Keith said.

“Once we get closer, we’ll be able to narrow down the location where the Princess is being held,” Coran assured him.

Shiro looked at each of you. “Okay, guys, this is it. Voltron is going to come in fast and without warning. We’ll smash our way into Zarkon’s ship and grab the Princess. Before they know what hit them, we’ll have the Princess and be on our way.”

_‘Sounds great. What could possibly go wrong?’_ you thought sarcastically.

Keith looked at you, one eyebrow quirked. _‘Everything.’_

**************************************

“What is that?” Hunk asked apprehensively as Voltron flew towards the Galra base. What appeared to be a particle barrier was rapidly closing down, effectively trapping the team within the perimeter.

“I don’t know, but I hope once we get the Princess, we can find a way out of here,” you answered.

“They’re going to fire!” Pidge yelled as the Galra fighter jets headed towards Voltron.

“Form sword!” Shiro ordered.

Keith punched his Bayard into Red’s console, forming the giant sword. Voltron then used it to slice through the middle of the nearest Galra warship’s hull, causing it to split in half prior to exploding. Voltron then attacked another warship, pushing it into the two beside it, and all three disappeared in a fiery blaze.

Lance’s voice sounded panicked as several more warships headed towards you. “More trouble, straight ahead!”  
  
“Form shoulder cannon!” Shiro yelled.

Hunk summoned the robot’s latest addition, firing at the warships in quick succession.

Shiro noticed the large vessel through the debris of the destroyed warships. “There’s Zarkon’s ship!”

Without warning, Voltron appeared to be frozen in place. None of the systems responded, and the team could do nothing but watch helplessly as you were drawn closer towards Zarkon’s ship. You looked in disbelief as Voltron’s sword disappeared. You checked the Red Bayard, which was still locked in position on the Red Lion’s console. You looked questioningly at Keith, who seemed just as bewildered as you.

“What’s going on?” Hunk cried.

“We lost the sword!” Keith groaned with frustration. “Something’s malfunctioning!”

None of the robot defender’s systems appeared to be working.

“What’s happening?” Coran demanded.

“Somebody do something!” Lance’s voice sounded slightly hysterical. “Voltron’s frozen up!”

Somehow, it appeared that Voltron was being forcibly separated. Each Lion was being pulled in a different direction, causing everyone to scramble to try and regain control of their Lions.

“Shiro!” Keith said through gritted teeth as you tried desperately to bring Red’s systems back online.

“I can’t hold it!” Shiro cried in frustration, as he battled to control the Black Lion.

To everyone’s horror, Zarkon’s voice sounded over your comms. **[You’re a fool to bring Voltron here.]**

“What just happened there? Something tore us apart!” Hunk cried.

“I don’t know, but we’ve got bigger problems right now. Look!” Lance pointed towards the Galra fleet which was lying in wait.

“Why do I get the feeling these guys knew we were coming?” Keith muttered sourly. You nodded in agreement.

Each Paladin flew their Lion amongst the Galra fleet, attempting to inflict as much damage as possible. The Lions fired their mouth and tail cannons, punching through the hulls of the warships as the Galra fighters fired incessantly upon all of you.

“Argh! There’s no end to these guys!” Hunk yelled as he dodged the Galra lasers.

“Coran attack!” Coran’s voice came gleefully over the comms as he fired the Castleship’s cannon through the centre of one of the warships. “I’ve waited ten thousand years for this!”

You heard Shiro groan. Keith concern was instant. “Shiro, are you okay?”

“Something is overriding the controls! My Lion is not responding!” Shiro told him. You noticed the Black Lion being pulled towards Zarkon’s ship.

“Shiro’s in trouble!” Keith told the others, turning the Red Lion towards the ship. “I’m going in!”

“Oh, so you’re happy to feed Allura to the wolves, but the second Shiro is in trouble you’re ready to go in all guns blazing?” you snarled at the Red Paladin.

“Shiro has _always_ been there for me, no matter what. I’m _not_ going to abandon him,” Keith retorted angrily.

You saw with dismay that Shiro had been ejected from the Black Lion, and was now clinging desperately to the hull of Zarkon’s command ship.

“What do we do now, guys?” Hunk asked desperately. “Our plan isn’t really working out as… well, planned!”

“I’m going for the Black Lion. You guys get the Princess, now!” Shiro barked.

Coran’s voice sounded excited as he reached the team over the comms. “I’ve identified Allura’s exact location. Uploading the coordinates to you now. In the meantime, I’ll provide covering fire from out here. All alone. Against an entire fleet. So, yeah, do you mind hurrying?”

“My jetpack’s damaged,” Shiro told you and Keith. “I’ll need to go through the ship.”  
  
Keith contacted the others. “You guys get the Princess without me.”

“What?” Lance shrieked. “We’ve got to stick together! What are you doing?”  
  
“Whatever I can,” Keith said determinedly.

He flew towards the Black Lion, using Red’s momentum to push it out of the tractor beam. Black crashed into the side of the huge ship, and Red landed alongside it.

You noticed something land on the surface of Zarkon’s ship, and pointed it out to your impetuous partner. Keith frowned as he stared at the Galra, standing defiantly in front of the Black Lion. “Whoa! Who is that?”

Coran gasped. “It’s Zarkon! Keith, get out of there, now! Zarkon’s too powerful!”  
  
“This is my chance to put an end to the Galra Empire!” Keith disagreed. “I have to take it!”

“Keith, don’t!” Coran cried.

“Keith, listen to him, please!” you begged. “We can’t do this on our own!”

He ignored you as he flew Red towards the Galra Emperor, firing Red’s mouth cannon. You gasped as you noticed that Zarkon had shielded himself from the laser, and as the shield disappeared, you realised that he had formed it using the Black Bayard.

Shiro’s Bayard.

You heard Zarkon’s voice, and it chilled you to the bone. **[You may have a Lion, but its power is weak in your fledgling hands.]**

Zarkon transformed the Bayard into a large sword, and flung it towards the Red Lion. It struck Red, causing the Lion to spin wildly before Keith managed to correct it. Red growled as Keith turned to face the Emperor.

**[You cannot stop me]** Zarkon intoned. **[The Black Lion will finally be returned to its original Paladin.]**

Your jaw dropped at that proclamation. “Does he mean…”

Nodding slowly, Keith whispered, “Yeah. I’m pretty sure that Zarkon just told us that _he_ used to be the Black Paladin.”

**************************************

While the rest of the team were trying to rescue the princess, Keith was furiously attempting to take down Zarkon. He was ignoring not only Coran’s protests, but also your own increasingly hysterical pleas to fall back.

He fired the mouth cannon, and once again Zarkon blocked the blast with his shield. Red landed on the surface of the Emperor’s ship, and the Lion stood in front of Zarkon as the Emperor summoned his blade. Keith snarled as he charged towards the Galra ruler, firing the cannon over and over.

An alarm started blaring as Zarkon knocked Red onto its side, and you tried desperately to gain your partner’s attention when you noticed that Zarkon had used the Bayard to form an enormous cannon. Keith managed to dodge the oncoming blast just in time. Instead, the laser fire hit part of the ship, causing an explosion and the ship to start tilting.

“Keith, get out of there! Keith, do you copy?” Coran persisted. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with! He’s too powerful! Listen to me, it’s imperative that you don’t engage the…”

Keith turned off the communicator and activated the Red Lion’s mouth blade.

_“No!”_ you shrieked. “What are you _doing_ , you idiot? Why the hell aren’t you listening to him?”

Keith pretended that he couldn’t hear you. He flew directly at the Emperor, who was now summoning a huge whip to try and attack the Red Lion. Keith ducked and weaved, managing to avoid being hit, but the situation was becoming more tense every second. As he was trying to circle around, Zarkon managed to wrap the whip around one of Red’s legs, dragging your Lion back to the surface of his ship.

The two of you groaned as Red lay on its side, and Zarkon once again summoned his huge sword. He rushed towards you, while you tried desperately to bring the systems back online.

Keith growled in vexation, and with a loud cry, he pushed the controls forward. To the surprise of both of you, a large plasma cannon appeared on Red’s back. Keith activated the cannon, throwing Zarkon off balance. As the Emperor fell, the plasma fire hit the outer ring of the ship, causing it to disintegrate.

“Whoa!” Keith muttered.

Zarkon looked up with grudging admiration. **[You fight like a Galra soldier. But not for long!]**

You both watched in disbelief as Zarkon jumped higher than you had ever thought possible, and transformed the Bayard into a gigantic mace. He struck Red, who crashed onto the surface of the ship once more, laying still as you and Keith struggled to bring her back online. Zarkon grinned viciously, changing the Black Bayard once again into the huge sword. He flew towards you, aiming what looked like it was going to be a potentially fatal blow to the Red Lion, and yourselves.

“Come on! _Come on!”_ Keith hissed desperately, trying to move the Red Lion out of the way. Red remained unresponsive.

Just as you had resigned yourself to your fate, the Black Lion swooped in, firing upon the Galra Emperor.

“I got you, buddy!” Shiro announced as he carried the Red Lion back to the Castle.

**************************************

“All right, Paladins, time to get out of here!” Allura’s voice was clear over the comms, and you had never been so happy to hear her.

Hunk panicked as the Castle started to vibrate as the Lions were entering their hangars. “Hello? What’s going on? I don’t see a wormhole!”

“The Galra barrier is jamming our ability to create one!” Coran wailed.

Galra drones and jets swarmed around the Castleship and the Lions as the team attempted to evade capture.

“They have us completely surrounded!” Coran cried.

Without warning, the barrier which had trapped the Castleship dissipated, allowing Allura to steer the Castle away from the threat of Zarkon.

“What just happened?” Pidge demanded.

“Who cares? Wormhole!” Hunk yelled.

Allura created a wormhole and turned the Castleship towards it. Just as she was about to make the jump, a large bolt of purple lightning emanated from Zarkon’s ship and hit the wormhole, causing the Castle to shake violently.

“Coran, what’s happening?” Shiro’s voice was filled with urgency.

“The integrity of the wormhole has been compromised. It’s breaking down!”

“What does that mean?” Lance cried.

“It means we have no control over where we’re headed!” Coran advised.

The Lions were thrown out of the Castle hangars, spinning wildly out of control as they each headed in different directions.

“Y/N! Keith! Shiro!” You heard Lance calling your names in desperation as the explosion hit the Lions as you were all thrown out of the wormhole. That was the last thing you remembered as the Lions scattered.

**************************************

An alarm was blaring.

“Come on, come on, come on!” Keith’s voice was filled with urgency as he attempted to steer Red clear of danger. Unfortunately, the systems were completely unresponsive, and you were thrown around the cockpit as Red crashed on the surface of the planet that you had been sent to after exiting the wormhole.

Wincing with pain, you blinked your eyes, trying to figure out what was happening. You winced again, your ankle throbbing, as you tried to sit up. You realised that you were on the cockpit floor of the Red Lion, in a crumpled heap at the feet of the Red Paladin.

Keith was groaning and coughing. “You okay, Red?”

Still no response from the Red Lion. Sighing, he leant back in the pilot’s seat with a defeated expression on his face. “Okay. We’ll fix you up. We had a tough battle.”

He climbed out of the roof of Red, looking out over the desolate wasteland of the planet. “Where are we? Where have we landed?”

Suddenly he gasped. “Shiro. Shiro!”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” you called, causing Keith to look back into the cockpit with surprise. He seemed to have completely forgotten your existence.

“Y/N…” he began lamely, but you held up a hand, your annoyance at his lack of concern for you evident. Groaning with pain, you slowly pulled yourself to your feet and looked out over the stark landscape before you, wondering where the heck you were.

The alarm kept blaring.

**************************************

There was static over the helmet comms, and you heard Shiro’s voice. “Keith, Y/N, are you there? Keith? Y/N?”

“Shiro, can you hear me? Shiro?” Keith growled with frustration at the static. “Shiro, are you there?”

You could feel Keith panicking as he heard Shiro groaning and panting. “Shiro, are you there? Answer me!”

Another groan. “Keith. I’m here. Keith.”  
  
“Shiro, it’s Keith,” the Red Paladin called.

“Keith. Keith, I’m here. I’m okay.”  
  
Keith chuckled with relief. “Shiro, you made it.”

“It takes more than a glowing alien wound, a fall from the upper atmosphere, and crashing into a hard pan surface – at what I’m guessing is about twenty-five meters per second squared – to get rid of me. How are you and Y/N?”

“Not good. My Lion’s busted.” Keith paused, finally registering something that Shiro had said. “Wait, what wound?”  
  
“It’s nothing.”

You grimaced. That was Shiro-speak for, “I’m actually half-dead but please don’t think I’m complaining.”

“Hang on, I’m coming,” Keith told him.

There was the sound of growling and snarling in the background. Shiro’s voice sounded slightly more urgent. “On second thought, you’d better hurry.”

Keith ran off without a word, not even bothering to check if you were going to tag along. He still hadn’t asked if you were okay, either. You hadn’t even crossed his mind.

“I’ll just stay here, then, shall I?” you called after him sarcastically.

Looking around, you huffed. “Well, Red, looks like it’s just you and me. Let’s see if we can figure out how to patch you up.”

**************************************

Keith ran through the desolate landscape, trying to avoid the sudden geysers of water that came bursting through the planet’s surface, as he headed in the direction of the Black Paladin. “Shiro, what happened?”

“There’s several creatures,” Shiro’s weak voice replied.

Keith heard a roar and activated his jetback, racing desperately towards the man he loved like a brother. Without warning, the planet cracked beneath him, a gush of water sending him through the air and over the edge of a cliff. In desperation, he transformed his Bayard into its katana form and stabbed it towards the cliff, halting his fall into the canyon.

“Keith, are you okay? What happened?”

“Minor delay, but I’m on my way,” he deadpanned. “How are you?”

“I’m all right, but I’m trapped in a cave. Some creatures have me cornered.” The sound of growling and scratching could be heard in the background.

“Stay put,” Keith instructed. “I’m on my way.”

He looked out over the vast canyon before him, wondering how he was going to get across without killing himself. “I just have to figure this out.”

Closing his eyes, he repeated the mantra that Shiro had taught him all those years ago. “Patience yields focus.”

He could hear the grin in Shiro’s voice. “That really stayed with you, didn’t it?”

“You’ve given me some good advice,” Keith admitted. He kicked the ground beneath him, and as a spray of water gushed out, an idea formed. “If it wasn’t for you, my life would have been a lot different.”

“Yeah. You wouldn’t have crashed a flying lion on an alien planet and be stuck with no hope of rescue.” Shiro’s voice sounded even weaker now.

“Stay with me, Shiro!” Keith urged.

Taking a deep breath, he sliced a wedge from the cliff face with his sword, hoping he had calculated the angle correctly. A torrent of water pushed the tiny piece of rock across the canyon, towards the opposite edge. He hooted with glee for a brief moment, before realising with some alarm that the rock was disintegrating beneath his feet.

Activating his jetpack, he aimed towards the edge of the cliff, hitting the edge with a grunt as his chest collided with the hard surface. He groaned with pain as he hauled himself off the precarious edge.

“Keith? Keith!”

“Hang on, I’m on my way,” he said, getting slowly to his feet.

“Good. Because these guys just started digging.”

Keith flew towards the hills, scanning for any sign of the team leader. With a smile, he noticed a familiar form lying on the ground below. “Shiro! Shiro, I have a visual on the Black Lion!”

He noticed several giant lizard-type creatures below, surrounding a tiny being on the ground. It was Shiro. And it looked like he was about to become dinner.

In desperation, Keith walked up to the Black Lion, placing his hand on the giant robot’s muzzle. “I know I’m not Shiro, but he’s in trouble. We need to help him.”

There was no response.

Taking a deep breath, he focussed all of his energy on creating a bond, however temporary, with the head of Voltron.

**************************************

Shiro was surrounded. This was the end. Just as he closed his eyes to accept his fate, one of the lizard-beings was trampled beneath the feet of the Black Lion.

It had come to his rescue in the nick of time.

The Lion roared as it hovered protectively over him, and the lizards scattered.

With a start, he realised that Keith was in the pilot’s seat. Shiro smiled to himself. He’d always known that Keith had what it took to be a leader.

He should have known Keith would never give up on him.

Shiro passed out as the Red Paladin helped him aboard the Lion, before heading back to where the Red Lion was patiently waiting, with its impatient second Paladin nearby.

**************************************

Despite your best efforts, you couldn’t get Red moving. Nothing you tried work. You sat down in the pilot’s seat with an angry huff. As you were ready to give up, you noticed that the Black Lion was making its way back to you.

To your surprise, however, it wasn’t Shiro that was piloting the Black. It was Keith.

What the heck had happened out there that had caused Keith to bond with the Black Lion?

You limped outside to see if Keith needed assistance with Shiro, but as you had anticipated, he completely ignored your presence. His focus was solely on his mentor, and while you could understand his concern for your leader, you couldn’t help but feel upset that he hadn’t even spared a second of thought for your wellbeing.

Shiro’s face was pale and sweaty, and you felt the blood drain from your face when you noticed the gaping wound in his side. Grabbing some bandages and antiseptic from the first aid kit in Red’s cockpit, you pushed Keith aside – perhaps a bit more roughly than necessary – so that you could clean the wound.

Of all the Paladins, you were the one with the most experience at first aid, having undertaken several training sessions in the hopes of increasing your chances of a mission once you graduated. Time to put all of that training into practice.

Keith gathered some wood and started to light a fire, trying to ignore the twinge of envy he felt at the attention you focussed on the Black Paladin. He’d never been jealous of Shiro before, but seeing you fussing over the older man with gentle hands and murmurs of reassurance suddenly made him incredibly envious of his friend.

“Thanks for saving me,” Shiro whispered, smiling at both of you. You didn’t say anything, concentrating all of your attention on patching him up as best you could with the limited resources on hand.

“You’d have done the same for me,” Keith replied softly. “How’s your wound?”

“My wound’s great. It’s getting bigger all the time.” Shiro smiled weakly as you admonished him with a glare. “Just trying to lighten the mood.”

“Hang in there,” Keith urged. “When Allura and Coran find us, they’ll fix you right up.”

“Keith,” Shiro whispered weakly. “If I don’t make it out of here, I want you to lead Voltron.”

“Stop talking like that,” Keith protested. “You’re gonna make it.”

A noise outside caused the three of you to look up. “Huh?”

The Green Lion appeared from the wormhole above you. The others had found you.

**************************************

Keith couldn’t figure out what he had done wrong, but clearly it had been something significant. Otherwise, why would you be so angry?

No, angry wasn’t a strong enough adjective for what he felt emanating from you through the life-bond.

You were _furious._

Your movements had been gentle as you bandaged Shiro’s wounds, hushing him and murmuring soothing sounds as he winced in pain despite your tender ministrations. Your concern was obvious, and Keith could tell how worried you were about the Black Paladin’s injuries.

Keith watched as you placed a blanket over Shiro, wiping the sweat from his face with a damp cloth and continuing to whisper softly to him as he dozed restlessly in the back of the Green Lion. Despite another brief flash of jealousy he’d felt towards Shiro as you whispered that he was safe, it warmed Keith’s heart to see you taking such good care of the man he considered a brother. You obviously cared about Shiro just as much as he did.

But simmering alongside your concern for your team leader was the absolute fury that you were directing at Keith. You had not spoken a word to him since he’d brought Shiro back to safety, and yet he knew without a doubt that you were livid with him. He just couldn’t figure out why.

He decided that it might be safer to go back outside and face Zarkon or those carnivorous space lizards, alone and weaponless, than remain in your presence when it was abundantly clear that you wished you could kill him with your brain.

Keith made a mental note not to stand between you and the airlock. In your current mood, the temptation to kick him out might be too strong to resist.

**************************************

As you returned to the bridge of the Castleship, the others couldn’t help but notice the tension between you and Keith. You stood as far away from him as possible, the withering glare on your face making even Lance wonder if it might be better to stay out of your way until you had regained your composure.

You stayed long enough to advise Allura and Coran of the extent of Shiro’s injuries, and then turned on your heel to leave. Before you had taken more than three steps, Keith ran after you and grabbed your arm.

“Y/N…” he started.

Everyone stared, open-mouthed with shock, as you slapped him across the face. Keith’s expression of hurt and confusion would normally have softened your heart and lessened your anger. Now, though, it just enraged you further.

“The next time you decide to gamble with your life, Keith Kogane, you’d better make damn sure that you don’t gamble with mine as well!” you hissed.

He stared after you numbly, hand pressed to his reddened cheek, as you finally made your escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooh cliffhanger to end Part 1! Dun dun dun!
> 
> Will you and Keith kiss and make up? Will you ever rid yourselves of Zarkon? Will my internet behave itself long enough for me to start posting Part 2 by this weekend? Why am I asking so many questions?!
> 
> Thanks for all the love and comments so far, this is a fun fic to write so I'm glad you're all enjoying it! Much loves to you all, and hopefully you're finding ways to entertain yourselves if you're currently in lockdown due to Covid-19. Take care and I'll be back soon, I promise.


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